Freundeskreis
by enkasai
Summary: Whether she admitted it or not, Ryuugamine Hatsuna's days at Teikou changed her life. Basketball wasn't just a sport anymore. /Teikou era, OC-centered, there will be pairings
1. A New Spring

**Edit:** 14-06-13

* * *

_chapter one_  
**A New Spring**

* * *

An excited buzzing filled the grounds of Teikou Middle School as old students mingled with new ones under the blooming cherry blossom trees. Spring was always a nice season to start afresh, and this spring would be no different.

A dark-haired girl leant against the wire fence around the rooftop of the building overlooking the compound filled with booths of senpai trying to recruit new club members. Looking over her shoulder at the blue-and-white-clad busybodies down below, she brought up the compact digital camera that hung on her wrist with a sparkled strap, and took a picture.

The sky was as blue as ever.

* * *

The folds were clean, sharp, and precise.

Of course they were perfect. He expected nothing less.

"How can you forget how to fold a crane? Really, Shin-chan."

Midorima Shintarou bristled as the corner of his lip slanted down into a half-frown. On this important day of April 3rd, Oha Asa had dictated that the lucky item for Cancers was a paper crane. Unfortunately, in a moment of first-day-of-middle-school-jitters, he had conveniently forgotten the process of folding one.

Hence, he was currently sipping on a glass of orange juice and munching on a piece of toast in the Ryuugamine household, waiting for its green-haired eldest child to finish folding the paper crane.

"You are a failure as a Japanese."

"I brought you your lucky item for the day," Midorima snapped back. "I even asked my parents to let you have it especially for today."

"How the hell do you expect me to hold on to a champagne flute the entire day?" the girl folding the paper crane replied irritably. "Besides, if it's that, then I can just go get one from Mama's collection."

"This is original Venetian glass—"

"Then I'm definitely not going to take it! What if I accidentally break it?"

"Libras have the worst luck for today! You're going to need the finest champagne flute to overcome your misfortune!"

"Then all the more reason for me to not walk around with priceless fragile cargo!"

"Cancers are only ranked fifth in luck today, so even if I'm around, you're still probably going to get rained down with bad luck!"

"I just need to find a Taurus to stick to, right?" the girl sighed tiredly, pulling on the wings of the finished crane. "They're the luckiest sign for today, right?"

"That still doesn't assure your fortune for today," Midorima mumbled as he took the crane.

"Shin-nii's being tsun-tsun."

Midorima glanced at the ten-year-old Aquarius sitting beside him.

" . . . Minato, today's lucky item for Aquarius is a spoon. Make sure to hold on to one the whole day," Midorima said stiffly. Faced with the sign of the Water Bearer, the Cancer Midorima was naturally disinclined to get along with the little brother of his Libra friend.

"Roger," the ten-year-old replied with an apathetic salute as he downed his glass of juice. "Hatsu-nee and Shin-nii are going to be late for the opening ceremonies if they don't get going already."

"He's right," Midorima sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "We better get going, Minena."

"And whose fault is that?" the girl, Minena, asked snippily as she gathered the dirty plates and dumped them in the sink. Turning to her little brother, she said, "Minato, tell Mama that Shin-chan and I went ahead."

"Roger," the ten-year-old saluted, grabbing a spoon from the utensils drawer before heading to the living room to watch TV.

"When does his new term start again?" Midorima asked as they put on their shoes by the front door.

"Next week," Minena replied. She held up the Venetian glass champagne flute Midorima had brought, "And we're dropping this off at your house first. I am _not_ bringing this to school, bad luck rain down on me or not."

Midorima gave her a blank look before turning way with a _hmph_. "Suit yourself."

Minena bit the insides of her cheeks with a pout. "You hold on to it."

Midorima sighed, relenting. Although he didn't really expect her to fully believe in Oha Asa, he was glad that she was at least partly conscious. He took the champagne flute in his right hand, holding on to the paper crane with his left.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Dai-cha—Aomine-kun!"

Momoi Satsuki caught herself at the last second. Her hand snapped out to grab on to the sleeve of the childhood friend who was about to walk away.

"What now, Satsuki?" Aomine Daiki asked irritably.

"At least find out what class you're in before going off to find the basketball club!" Momoi scolded.

"It's too much of a hassle with all these people," Aomine mumbled, scratching the back of his head as he felt numerous individuals bumping into him. "We'll find out later."

"The class listings are posted just beside the map of the booths. The basketball club's not going to move; there's no rush," Momoi said, pointing to the large notice board with several pieces of paper posted on it.

"Ahn, troublesome," Aomine grumbled, letting out a loud yawn.

"There, I've found your name!" Momoi pointed. "Class 1-E."

"Yeah, yeah. And you?"

"Wait up," Momoi said, bright pink eyes roving across the listings. "Ah! 1-C!"

"Okay, that's settled," Aomine said, clapping his hands together. "Now, let's go to the basketball club."

"At least look for it on the map first, instead of just wandering around until you find it," Momoi scolded, grabbing onto Aomine's sleeve before he disappeared into the crowd.

"Satsukiiiiii," Aomine whined, already getting impatient. "It's just over there."

"Eh?" Momoi blinked, glancing over to where Aomine was pointing. Indeed, right across where they were standing was the basketball club's booth, just between the baseball club's and American football club's booths. "Oh."

Aomine freed his sleeve from Momoi's grasp and held on to her wrist, dragging her along with him to the basketball club's booth.

"Interested in the basketball club? Just fill in this application form. There'll be an orientation for new applicants tomorrow after classes," one of the senpai said, passing out the application forms.

Aomine immediately grabbed one.

"Um, will you be accepting managers?" Momoi asked the senpai from whom Aomine had taken an application form from.

"Oh, interested in the position, are we?" the senpai said with a kind smile. "Then, just go talk to that brown-haired big sister over there."

Momoi bowed politely. "Thank you." She glanced at Aomine, who was filling up the application form by the table, and headed to talk to the person the senpai had pointed out.

"Excuse me. I'd like to apply as a manager for the basketball club," Momoi announced with a smile.

The girl in front of her was probably a second-year, with rich brown hair cut just below her jaw line. She was wearing a varsity jacket in Teikou's colors, and a pen was tucked into her left ear.

"Oh? Are you a first year?" the senpai asked.

"Yes. I'm Momoi Satsuki," the pink-haired girl introduced herself with a bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you, Momoi-san. I'm Kohaku Aimi. The basketball club usually has three managers, but since one of them graduated last year, and the other one is focusing on high school exams this year, we're looking for two newbies to fill in the empty spots," the senpai, Kohaku Aimi, explained. "We'll be having an orientation for the manager applicants at the same time as the team. Here's the application form." Momoi took the piece of paper she was offered. "You can submit it at the start of the orientation tomorrow at four. Good luck and enjoy your first day at Teikou."

Momoi nodded with a bright smile.

"Thank you very much, Kohaku-senpai! I'll see you around."

Momoi walked away from the table, intent on finding her childhood friend when she felt an arm drape around her shoulder. The application form was pried away from her hands.

"Ah—"

"What? You were serious about applying as a manager?" Aomine asked in disbelief as he stared at the application form.

Momoi huffed, taking back the paper from Aomine and folding it in half. She opened her schoolbag, slipping the form in between the pages of her new notebook before zipping her bag back up.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Momoi asked, puffing up her cheeks and crossing her arms.

Aomine took his arm off her shoulders, raising both his hands in front of him in a gesture of surrender.

"No arguments here."

* * *

Ryuugamine Hatsuna—age: 13; blood type: AB; birthday: October 20th; star sign: Libra; usually called 'Minena' by her close friends and family—stood within the ranks of first years in Teikou Middle School's auditorium for the opening ceremonies.

"And now, to give a few words of encouragement, we call on the highest scorer of this year's entrance exam, the first year representative, Akashi Seijuurou-kun."

A polite applause resounded within the wide auditorium as a red-haired boy from the first row walked towards the stage. A bit further down the same line, Minena spotted the familiar crop of green hair that belonged to her childhood friend and neighbor. Though Teikou did not distribute its students into classes through virtue of academic ranking, the special A sections for each year level held the top twenty-five students of each batch. And included within those top twenty-five students were the first year representative, Akashi-kun, and Minena's childhood friend and neighbor, Midorima Shintarou, who aimed to become a doctor.

As the first year representative gave his speech, Minena let her eyes wander around the auditorium. Just three people away to her left stood the bubbly, pink-haired girl who was in the same class as her—Momoi Satsuki. Momoi had come into the classroom like a happy tornado, immediately embarking on a journey to learn all her classmates' names before the first bell rang. Minena had appropriately introduced herself, and Momoi had joyfully exclaimed with apt wonder her admiration for Minena's magnificent and manga-main-character-like last name.

Letting her dark green eyes wander around the auditorium again, the first person that caught Minena's attention was the head of purple that stood out like a stubborn nail within the crowd of twelve- to thirteen-year old first years that had an average height of perhaps less than 150 centimeters. Clearly being a full head taller than everyone else, his slouched shoulders and lazy gaze were particularly prominent, almost as much as the bag of potato chips he was noisily eating in the middle of the opening ceremony.

After finally processing the oddity of the purple-haired giant, Minena's ears picked up the contents of the idle chatter of the two girls behind her.

"See that cute blond over there? I saw him on a magazine once!"

"Really? We're actually attending the same school as a model?"

Minena craned her head backwards, nonchalantly looking over at where the two girls were throwing obvious glances at.

She spotted the blond almost immediately. There was a clear brilliance about him that simply overpowered the plain-looking people around him. He was all smiles as he patiently conversed with the beet-red girl standing beside him.

"I think his name was Kise, or something . . . "

"That's 1-D's group, right? He's in 1-D, the classroom next to ours?"

Another round of polite applause echoed in the auditorium, and Minena brought her gaze to the stage and raised her hands to join in with the clapping. The red-haired Akashi-kun stepped up beside the podium and bowed once more before going back to his position at the front row.

Minena's phone began to vibrate in the pocket of her skirt as the principal went to give the closing remarks.

* * *

In their class of twenty-four, Minena ended up with a place on the second row, just a seat away from the window. The pink-haired Momoi Satsuki was in the row behind, diagonally to the right of where Minena sat, smack-dab in the middle of the classroom.

She didn't expect any different.

Their homeroom teacher was the head of the Mathematics department, the fifty-two-year old Takamura Natsuhiko-sensei.

Being one of the oldest teachers in Teikou, Takamura-sensei valued the traditions of the academy very much. Having handled numerous classes before theirs, the Math department head was used to dealing with freshly-graduated elementary students just starting their middle school journeys.

"Instead of the usual roll call with a self-introduction, let's start with an ice-breaker game to get to know each other better. Does anyone know 'Two Truths and a Lie'?"

A boy in the back raised his hand. "You tell people three things about yourself—two truths and a lie—and they have to guess which one is the lie."

Takamura-sensei smiled. "Correct. Everyone, state your name, and then tell us two truths and a lie about yourself. To give you an idea of what to do, I'll start."

Takamura-sensei walked out from behind the teacher's desk and started strolling around the classroom.

"I'm Takamura Natsuhiko. I have three kids. My favorite color is blue. I once won an all expenses paid trip to a ski resort in the shopping district's lottery."

Everyone glanced at each other.

"The lie is that your favorite color is blue."

All heads turned to the pink-haired girl who had confidently announced that.

Takamura-sensei smiled warmly. "And why do you say that—Momoi-kun, was it?"

"Sensei's notebook, folder and handkerchief are all yellow," Momoi said with a smile. At her words, everyone glanced at the folded yellow handkerchief sticking out of the breast pocket of Takamura-sensei's plain white shirt, and the stack of yellow folders and the yellow notebook he had brought with him.

"Very good observational skills, Momoi-kun," Takamura-sensei complimented. "I'm in awe."

A wave of compliments was hurtled at Momoi, whose face took on the shade of her hair.

"Now, who'd like to start?"

"Oh, me!"

The game went on in good spirits. After a couple of people, the class decided to vote on which was the lie and started keeping individual points. The one who managed to guess the most lies would win a chocolate bar from Takamura-sensei tomorrow.

"Momoi-kun, why don't you go?"

Momoi stood up from her seat with a flourish. "I'm Momoi Satsuki. My star sign is Taurus, my favorite sport is basketball, and—um, my blood type is O!"

"Alright, then. Who says that Momoi-kun's lie is that her start sign is Taurus?"

A couple of people raised their hands.

"That her favorite sport is basketball?"

Over half of the class raised their hands. Momoi simply smiled.

"That her blood type is O?"

Ryuugamine, along with a few others, raised their hands.

Takamura-sensei turned to the pink-haired girl. "Well, Momoi-kun?"

Momoi smiled, clasping her hands behind her back. "My blood type is A."

The people who got it wrong groaned, and the people who got it right cheered. As Momoi sat back down, Takamura-sensei let his eyes travel across the room.

"Okay, who hasn't gone yet?"

Ryuugamine raised her hand.

"Ah, yes. Ryuugamine-kun, was it?"

The green-haired girl stood up from her chair and faced the class. "Ryuugamine Hatsuna. I was born in America. I have a little brother who was selected for the U-12 Japanese soccer team. I'm in love with my childhood best friend."

There was a brief silence as the students of 1-C quietly analyzed her words. To Momoi, judging simply by the way she said it, it was entirely possible that all three were truths. Being clear and direct in meaning, the first fact—that Ryuugamine was born in America—was likely to be a truth. It was the other two proposed 'facts' that were questionable, having very specific definitions. To be that particular meant that there was a possibility that one of them may only be a half-truth—that is, Ryuugamine may have a little brother, but that little brother wasn't selected for the U-12 Japanese soccer team, or that Ryuugamine may be in love with her best friend, but he wasn't a childhood best friend.

Or something like that.

However, going about it the other way, it could be that the direct and clear meaning of the first 'fact'—that Ryuugamine was born in America—made it the lie, and the detailed 'facts' of having a little brother who was selected for the U-12 Japanese soccer team and being in love with her childhood best friend were the truths.

Of course, Momoi didn't have to trouble herself too much with over-thinking it. She was moderately confident that the first fact was a truth, and she remembered the little tidbit from the sports section of the local newspaper about a Ryuugamine Minato-kun being selected as the youngest member of the U-12 Japanese national soccer team to compete overseas. So, unless this green-haired Ryuugamine Hatsuna had inadvertently voiced out a vague confession on the first day of classes, Momoi was pretty sure that the third 'fact' was the lie.

"Well, then," Takamura-sensei said with an amused tone, "anyone warrant a guess? Who says that Ryuugamine-kun wasn't born in America?"

Three hands were raised with a wavering confidence.

"Then, the second fact was the lie? What was it again?" Takamura-sensei looked at Ryuugamine for confirmation. "Your little brother plays for the U-12 soccer team?"

Ryuugamine nodded with a smile.

A few more hands go up.

"The last one then? That Ryuugamine-kun is in love with her childhood best friend?"

The moment Momoi raised her hand, the rest of the class followed.

The pink-haired girl let out a stifled giggle. She liked this class already.

Ryuugamine silently laughed as well.

Takamura-sensei turned to her, "Ryuugamine-kun?"

The green-haired girl smiled. "I'm sorry to my childhood best friend, but Kamiya Hiroshi's voice is too hot."

There were a few squeals from the other girls who had recognized the name Ryuugamine had said.

"Ryuugamine-san likes Kamiya Hiroshi, too?"

"I love him as Law from _One Piece_!"

"No, no! He made it big as Natsume-kun from _Natsume Yuujinchou_!"

Momoi read the expression on Ryuugamine's face as something like: she was glad to have started a fangirls' war in the middle of homeroom.

Really, it took a while for even Takamura-sensei to stop the fierce, impromptu debate.

* * *

The ultimate challenge of the first day of middle school started when the lunch time bell rang.

This was when the groups and cliques were formed.

Momoi stood up determinedly while the ringing of the bell was still echoing in her ears.

"E-Excuse me!" she all but shouted to the person next to her.

The girl with her hair in a ponytail gave Momoi patient smile.

"W-Would you l-like to have l-lunch with me?" Momoi stuttered out.

_There!_ The pink-haired girl internally congratulated herself. _I said it out loud._

"I would love to have lunch with you, Momoi-san," the girl with the ponytail said. "Izumi Yayoi. I'll be in your care from now on."

"Ah! Same here," Momoi replied, remembering her manners as she bowed respectfully.

"Momoi-san, Izumi-san, will you two be eating in the cafeteria?" a girl with brown hair in pigtails asked. "We're going there right now."

Momoi remembered the brown-haired girl's name to be Kohaku Aiko. Since her name and hair color were similar to Kohaku Aimi-senpai from the basketball club's booth earlier, Momoi had made a mental note to ask her about that. Behind Kohaku were the girls Momoi remembered as Fujisaki Kurumi, Suoh Mayuka, and Ryuugamine Hatsuna.

"That sounds great!" Momoi exclaimed. She clapped her hands happily, looking over to Izumi. Izumi smiled as well.

"I heard the curry rice here is the best," Suoh remarked as they walked out of the classroom.

"My older sister's personal favorite is the katsudon, though," Kohaku quipped.

"That's right! Kohaku-san, your sister wouldn't perhaps be a manager for the basketball club, would she?" Momoi inquired.

Kohaku smiled at her. "Actually, yeah. Aimi-nee-chan has been a manager for the basketball club since last year. One of our relatives was one of the founding members of the original Teikou Basketball Club years ago."

"That's amazing!" Momoi exclaimed.

"Momoi-san must really love basketball, huh?" Fujisaki commented.

"Are you applying as a manager?" Kohaku questioned.

Momoi nodded enthusiastically. "Of course."

"If you love basketball, why don't you try out for the girls' team instead?" Izumi asked.

Momoi chuckled weakly, scratching her chin. "Ehehe. Well, I really love basketball, but I'm not very good at actually playing."

The group laughed out loud.

"Is that so? Too bad then," Kohaku said. "We could have used another player."

"Oh, does Kohaku-san play?"

"Yep," Kohaku said proudly. "I'm applying for the girls' team."

"That's really great," Suoh complimented.

"How did Momoi-san get into basketball anyway?" Fujisaki aksed. "It doesn't really seem like something a girl like you would be drawn to."

"That's true," Izumi pointed out.

Momoi smiled. "My childhood friend was made for the sport. It's only natural that I got into it as well."

"Oh?" Kohaku smirked. "Another childhood friend love story? It looks like you and Ryuugamine-san are the same type."

Ryuugamine merely smiled as Momoi laughed out loud.

"Well, more than anything, Aomine-kun is like a little brother to me," the pink-haired girl explained. "He's always needed a lot of looking after; he's a good guy, but more often than not, he acts like a pain in the neck."

"But even then, you still look after him," Fujisaki pointed out. "If that's not a childhood love story, then I don't know what is."

Momoi just smiled. "Can't a girl and a boy be just friends anymore?"

Everyone exchanged glances.

"We're not in elementary anymore, so of course not!" Fujisaki said with a giggle. "Our middle school lives won't be as interesting if we're 'just friends' with guys."

Everyone laughed.

"You've been reading way too many high school romances," Suoh pointed out with a grin. "Middle school's a bit different."

As Fujisaki and Suoh continued on debating about the differences between romances set in middle school and high school, Momoi thought that with a comfortable aura like this, middle school would be over way too quickly.

She didn't expect to be proven wrong.


	2. Rolling Tongues

**Edit:** 14-06-13

* * *

_chapter two_  
**Rolling Tongues**

* * *

"You could at least _try_ to get along with them."

Ten-year old Midorima Shintarou traversed down the paved sidewalk, hand firmly gripping the handle of his plastic umbrella. The pitter-patter of the raindrops falling echoed loudly in his ears, and he was conscious of getting his finely polished shoes too wet.

The girl beside him smiled, taking a few quick steps forward to jump in a puddle.

"_Wakarimasen._"

* * *

"Kurumi-chan! You're not going to believe it!"

A girl with pale purple hair excitedly grabbed onto Fujisaku Kurumi's arm, bright eyes shining.

"Ah—! Rina-chan!" Fujisaki scolded, managing to keep the contents of her tray balanced on it. It was a good thing she had settled for tempura, and not something with soup. It would have been horrible to make such a scene on the first day.

Her miso soup was still sort of salvageable.

"Remember that cute new model on the cover of the _KIMIKO_ issue two months ago? The blond one they say the editor-in-chief herself scouted?" The purple-haired girl was grinning ear to ear, practically bursting at the seams. "He's in my class!"

"No way!" Fujisaki whisper-shouted as Rina enthusiastically nodded. Looking to the side, "Come to think of it, I heard two girls from my class talking about it earlier."

Rina's eyes glanced around the cafeteria, finally resting somewhere around the seats near the vending machines. "There he is!"

Fujisaki's eyes darted to where she pointed, "It _is_ him!"

"His name's Kise Ryouta," Rina supplied happily. "He's really friendly to everyone. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you sit with us."

Fujisaki's eyes widened as she stared at the cheeky smile that appeared on Rina's face.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Fujisaki gazed over to where Kise was sitting, surrounded by girls and engaged in light conversation with all of them.

Gripping tightly at her tray, she shook her head. "No way! I'd be too embarrassed to just come up and ask to sit with him when I'm not even in the same class."

Rina frowned, "Ehhh? Come on! I'll introduce you to him!"

Fujisaki bit her lip, looking back over her shoulder.

"Ryuugamine-san!"

Ryuugamine had taken a while in deciding what to buy, so she had been the last of their group to pay. After much debating and grave considerations of the opinions of Suoh and Kohaku, in the end, Ryuugamine just ended up buying a yakisoba bread and a packet of apple juice.

Walking up to them while pushing a straw into her packet of apple juice, Ryuugamine asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Come with me and sit with Kise Ryouta!" Fujisaki shamelessly blurted out.

Placing one end of the straw in her mouth, Ryuugamine's eyebrows furrowed together. "Who?"

Rina discreetly pointed to the blond in the middle of a group of giggling girls. "That cute blond over there. Kurumi-chan is too shy to come with me on her own. I'm Fujisaki Rina, by the way; Kurumi-chan's cousin."

"Ryuugamine Hatsuna," the girl with the dark green hair introduced herself. She turned to the Fujisaki who was her classmate, easily saying, "Okay. I don't mind."

"Really?" Fujisaki's eyes were sparkling. "Thanks a lot, Ryuugamine-san!"

Following behind Rina, Kurumi and Ryuugamine walked over to Kise's table.

"Ah, Fujisaki-chan, who're your friends?" Looking up, Kise saw one of his classmates returning, with two other girls behind her.

"Kise-kun, this is my cousin, Fujisaki Kurumi, and her friend, Ryuugamine-san," Rina introduced them, gesturing to the two girls. "Is it fine if they sit with us?"

Kise's smile widened. "Of course! The more the merrier, they always say."

The other purple-haired girl behind Rina grinned happily, while the green-haired girl just smiled politely, nodding at him as she continued sipping on her juice.

The two newcomers sat near Rina, and Kise continued with his narration on the happenings behind-the-scenes at magazine photo shoots.

* * *

Their lunch break was too long, Midorima decided as he leafed through the pages of their Japanese History textbook. He had already finished his bento twenty minutes ago, and there was still about another twenty minutes to kill before their next class started.

Out of absolute boredom, he glanced at the door when he heard it slide open.

He regretted it immediately.

"Shin-chan!"

There were some whispers from the students still inside the classroom, and Midorima pointedly ignored the sound of her footsteps coming closer. From the corner of his eye, he saw her lightly tap the paper crane she had folded, which was sitting prettily on his desk. He had gotten a few odd looks because of it, but as usual, he simply ignored them.

He inwardly cringed at the sound made when she grabbed a chair and dragged it in front of his table.

Minena placed her elbows on his desk, cradling her chin in her palms. A lazy grin decorated her face, "What are you doing, reading during lunch time? It's the first day; try and make some friends, why don't you?"

"I have plenty of time to acquaint myself with my classmates, thank you very much," Midorima replied testily, drumming his fingers on the edge of his textbook.

He glanced up and saw her lips press into a thin line. Her dark eyes took a cursory glance around his classroom before resting on the boy sitting a row in front of him, in the seat diagonally to his right.

"First year rep, Akashi-kun, right?"

The red-haired boy turned his head, a mild-mannered smile on his face. He closed the book he was reading, and angled his body to face them.

"Akashi Seijuurou. Pleased to meet you."

"Ryuugamine Hatsuna," she replied with the same smile. Gesturing to Midorima, "And this is Midorima Shintarou."

Midorima stiffly nodded in acknowledgement.

Seeing as neither of the two boys was going to say anything, Minena took hold of the flow of the conversation.

"Akashi-kun has a very nice voice; you sound a lot like a voice actor I know."

Akashi seemed relatively amused, "Is that so?"

"I'm a big fan of anime, but Shin-chan here doesn't like it as much," she said the last part with a bit of a scathing tone. "He prefers old guy stuff, like shogi."

It was kind of creepy how Akashi kept that smile on his face. "I like shogi."

"—oh, really?" Minena paused a bit, before smoothly recovering with, "Then maybe I could watch you and Shin-chan play some time?" She glanced at both of them, "I'm not very good, so maybe I can pick something up from how you two play?"

"That sounds nice," Akashi nodded. "There's a shogi club here; I'm sure they won't mind if we borrowed a set."

"Is Akashi-kun planning on joining the shogi club?"

"Actually, no. I'm planning on trying out for the basketball team."

Her eyes widened. "Really? Shin-chan's applying, too! What a coincidence."

Akashi's smile finally changed. There was a sharper curve to it now. "Yes, what a coincidence indeed."

"Momoi-san from my class is applying as a manager," Minena said, turning to Midorima. "Do you think—?"

"No," Midorima sharply interrupted.

Her shoulders slumped—the movement a bit too exaggerated in Midorima's opinion—and she frowned. "You don't have to be so forward about it . . . " she muttered—and again, Midorima could sense the overdramatic undertone.

"I think it would be nice to have Ryuugamine-san as a manager for the basketball team," Akashi commented, though the green-haired boy suspected it was more out of politeness and conversation manners rather than sincerity and genuine concern.

"Don't encourage her," Midorima said darkly, finally joining the conversation. "She's a slave driver. You should see how much she pushes her own little brother."

"And he made it as a Japanese U-12 representative," she snapped at him.

"You barely know anything about basketball," Midorima quipped.

"What are you talking about?" she asked testily. "I'm the one who introduced you to the game in the first place!"

"Because you had me sit with you through your entire _Slam Dunk_ marathon!"

"I learned Japanese faster through anime; your Spartan kanji lessons just made me more confused at that point!"

"You were the one who came to Japan without learning the lan—"

"Ah! Iwashima-sensei!" Minena stood up from her seat without warning. Tearing her gaze from the glass windows that run along the length of one of the classroom's walls, she gave Midorima a dirty glare, "We'll finish this later; my lunch break's over." She turned to Akashi, giving him a smile and a nod, "It was nice meeting you, Akashi-kun."

And then she ran out.

Midorima huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back on his seat.

"You two look alike," Akashi commented, facing him with a steady gaze. "Are you related?"

They were always mistaken as siblings or cousins because of their similar hair color, though Minena's was a few shades darker. It got even worse when she started wearing glasses too, and she got a pair just like his to annoy him—they got mistaken as twins.

Luckily, even she was disturbed by the twins thing and had promptly opted for contact lenses instead. Though she still wore glasses, she made sure to get oval frames instead of rectangular ones like his.

"Fortunately not," Midorima replied, failing to mask his still bitter tone. "She's my neighbor."

"Childhood friends?" Akashi questioned lightly.

Midorima began leafing through his Japanese History textbook again. "I suppose."

* * *

"Oof—sorry!"

The green-haired girl froze as she got a good look at him, blinking once, twice.

It was only lunch time, and this game was already getting old. Kise Ryouta smiled half-heartedly.

Her eyes drifted back down the corridor. She gave him a quick bow, another insincere and hastily given apology, and rushed down the hall, promptly entering Class 1-C's room just after the teacher walked in.

He arched an eyebrow, letting the corners of his lips curl up as he shrugged to himself before walking back to his own classroom.

* * *

"She got held back by a grade, didn't she?"

Midorima stared uninterestedly as the class rep struggled to speak in English, gesturing with odd motions as the green-haired girl he was trying to speak to spun a pencil between her fingers.

By the end of it all, the green-haired girl simply smiled and nodded, returning her attention to the kanji practice sheet she had been working on.

The class rep smiled nervously, walking towards him.

"Shintarou, go tell her that Minaguchi-sensei wants to see her at the faculty office," he said, scratching the back of his head. "You're her neighbor, right? I don't think she understood a word I said . . . "

Midorima sighed, standing up from his seat. Stopping just beside her table, he called out her name, "Hatsuna-san."

She looked up from her exercise sheet, eyes impassive as she replied with a perfectly accented, "_Hai?_"

Despite not having even spoken a word of Japanese before she moved to Japan, she was actually picking up the language pretty quickly. She had only arrived a month before the fall term started, and had crammed most of her Japanese skills within that month. Unfortunately, regardless of all her efforts, she still got delayed by two years.

She was only a year older than them, though—she was advanced by a year in her old school in America.

"Minaguchi-sensei," he said. "He wants to see you."

She paused a bit, letting his words sink in. He had a fair grasp of what vocabulary she knew—his mother, and English teacher at a cram school, was the one who was currently teaching her Japanese.

"_Wakatta._"

She was pretty good with accents, and she learned faster through constant conversation. She and his mother yapped all day long, going around the house and learning the Japanese terms for everything, from the appliances to the names of all her shrubs in the backyard. Though she was having a bit of trouble with kanji, he supposed she wasn't doing too badly since his mother was confident that she would definitely pass at least level ten of the kanji proficiency exam she was scheduled to take next month.

Though, at the rate she was going, his mother even admitted that she wouldn't be surprised if Hatsuna passed level three by next year.

She set her pencil down, moving her notebook so that it acted as a paperweight for her exercise sheets. She walked pass him with a small nod in his direction, calmly heading out the door.

Though, he kind of wondered why she deliberately encouraged people to still try and talk to her in English when she could already hold a decent conversation in Japanese.


	3. Like Flowing Water

**Edit:** 26-06-13

* * *

_chapter three_  
**Like Flowing Water**

* * *

Just as they reached the gates of Teikou, Minena asked, "Try-outs are at 4, right?"

Midorima pointedly stared at her, "Don't come."

She gave him an easy grin, patting her stuffed rabbit, which had its head sticking out of the corner of his school bag.

"Got it. Good luck." She ran ahead, waving back at him and entering the gates.

* * *

The building they gathered in was huge. It had space for two basketball courts, and a second level balcony running along the walls from where bystanders could watch. The floor was smooth and polished, gleaming under the light of the fluorescents. The ventilation was nice, too; four powerful air conditioners hummed quietly from each corner.

A large gaggle of students from different years and sections scattered around the court, eyeing one another. Those wearing the uniform of the basketball club talked to each other in small groups, waiting for 4 o'clock to strike.

"Midorima-kun."

Midorima fought back a sigh, turning his head to the boy who had addressed him.

Akashi Seijuurou from his class was walking towards him, carrying himself with an easy grace and casual confidence. He seemed largely unperturbed by the thick tension that hung in the air, and Midorima was almost jealous. Though it was slight, his heart was beating a bit faster than usual due to nervousness.

There was a noticeable height difference between them—Midorima had always been tall for his age—but it seemed as through the green-haired boy was the one who had to look up during the conversation.

"You left right after the bell rang; it's a shame we couldn't walk here together." The lilting, easy tone to Akashi's voice was horridly familiar to Midorima's ears. His pain in the neck of a supposed-to-be childhood friend sounded the same when she talked with the intention of wheedling out information.

Why must he always end up with the dodgy ones?

"Yes, I suppose . . . "

"Hmm, will Ryuugamine-san be coming?"

"I'm not sure," Midorima replied stiffly. True, he did tell her earlier to not come, but then again, she'd never really heeded any of his words before, and she most certainly had no reason to start now. As far as he knew, basketball held no special sentiment to her, and she had no particular reason or motivation to come today. He would grudgingly admit that they were—_close_, but that didn't stop them from having other friends and different interests. The conversation from yesterday was pretty much idle talk. She was probably just bored out of her mind, and the easiest way to rid herself of that boredom was to annoy him; Akashi just happened to be nearby and willing to play along.

(The redhead had probably been bored out of his mind at that time as well; Midorima definitely had been.)

There was a brief silence before Akashi asked him another question, "Did she move here from abroad?"

Midorima glanced at the red-haired boy from the corner of his eye; Akashi kept his gaze trained onto a group of too lax first years playing a casual game at the hoop closest to them.

"She was born in America," was Midorima's clipped reply.

"She's Ryuugamine Koumi's daughter, isn't she?"

Midorima sharply turned his head, but Akashi only met him with a placid smile.

Minena's mother had been a famous theatre actress in New York, but abruptly came back to Japan after a messy divorce with her American director husband. There were some less than pleasing rumors and press attention back then, though the family of three bounced back up pretty quickly. Ryuugamine Koumi became a talent trainer and signed with a major entertainment company, and Minato, who had been young but already excelled in soccer, had no trouble fitting in.

Minena had played soccer in her American school as well, and while she was quite good, sports had never really been her interest. She was invited to play during elementary, but she refused on the pretenses of still adjusting to life in Japan. She inherited some sort of performing talent from her mother, who had cultivated it with zeal—Minena was formally trained in voice, and she used to take piano and violin lessons as well, but she dropped them all during the summer of their sixth grade. She was intelligent, proven by how she was two years advanced in her old school in America, but she never made much of an effort in her academics nowadays.

And because of her current lack of achievement—though Midorima saw it for what it really was: a lack of dedication and motivation—the relationship between Minena and her mother wasn't really all that good, though he wouldn't quite call it strained either. They mostly kept out of each other's businesses, and as far as he could tell, Minato was like an unwilling bridge between them.

The situation within the Ryuugamine household was far from normal, to say the least.

"Yes," Midorima replied through gritted teeth. This was cautious territory; his interaction with Minena's mother was minimal, and neither she nor Minato openly talked about family. He didn't feel very comfortable talking about something he lacked understanding in.

Akashi seemed to take the hint, thankfully, and moved on to a different topic.

"That's a very cute stuffed rabbit you have."

* * *

"Ryuugamine-san!"

Fujisaki Kurumi slammed her hands down on the green-haired girl's desk, the straps of her schoolbag falling from her shoulder to hang on her elbow.

"Rina-chan said she and some other girls from 1-D were going for some karaoke with Kise-kun today," she said in a loud whisper. "I want to talk to him some more, but I feel like I'll be outcasted by the others if I come alone. Can you _pleaseplease_ accompany me? It would mean so much!"

Ryuugamine gave her a level stare before quirking her lips up into an easy half-smile, "I don't mind."

Fujisaki clapped her hands, smiling widely before jumping across the desk to hug the green-haired girl around the shoulders.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Once Fujisaki had reigned in her excitement, she adjusted the strap of her bag to rest on her shoulder and led Ryuugamine out of the room. They stopped right in front of 1-D's classroom, and the purple-haired girl waved to someone inside.

Fujisaki Rina was the first one to walk out, followed by some other girls and then Kise Ryouta himself.

"Ah, Fujisaki-chan and Ryuugamine-chan will be coming with us?" Kise said playfully, sending each girl a grin. "I'm glad~"

Fujisaki's cousin gave him her brightest smile, stepping forward to stand beside Rina. A couple of girls started throwing more questions at Kise as they began to walk. He patiently answered them, flawlessly keeping his smile on his face even though they weren't even outside the gates and he was already starting to feel tired.

The girls that came to him were all pretty much unremarkable. From his class, clearly the one with the most sense would be the purple-haired Fujisaki Rina—he was still a bit unsure why she hung around him. She was initially the most exuberant of the lot, but she had mellowed down in a matter of hours. By lunch time yesterday, it was almost like she was bored of him already. She was now largely ambiguous, and her fangirl-y actions seemed almost like a façade. He had a feeling her cousin from the other class was more interested in him, so he supposed the fact that she still hung around him was more for the other Fujisaki girl's sake than her own.

But he had no idea why the green-haired girl with Fujisaki's cousin tagged along with them. She didn't seem particularly close to Fujisaki's cousin, nor did she seem interested in him. He saw her smiling or laughing quietly when a joke was told, conversing with others when they asked her questions, but she never spoke up, and the only time she acknowledged him was when she nodded at him when Fujisaki first introduced her.

So when they entered their karaoke booth and she sat near one beside Fujisaki and her cousin, he took the opportunity and sat down next to her on an unspoken pretense of sitting beside the karaoke machine's controls.

He grabbed the song list and started flipping through it, "So, any recommendations? Ryuugamine-chan?"

He was a bit curious as to why she wasn't more nervous, since this was the first time he'd ever addressed her directly, putting aside greetings.

"Are there any songs from anime? They're my favorite," she replied with an easy smile, reaching out with a hand to flip the pages of the book on his lap. She had this sense of comfort in her manner that he found intriguing, since it didn't really seem like she was all that happy to be part of this group. Unlike the usual reactions he got from girls his age, she didn't shy away from him, nor did she act forward.

She was . . . casual. She carefully treaded along the line between those two kinds of personalities.

Just right.

And completely plastic.

"Oh!" A girl from his class clapped her hands. "Is Scandal's _Shunkan Sentimental_ there? Come on, Ryuugamine-san, I'll sing with you!"

Kise let Ryuugamine take the book from his lap and watched as she and the girl she was to sing with—Kurokami was her name, if memory served him right—knelt by the low table in the middle of the room to look for the song. When they found it, they passed the book on to the other girls, who started taking note of what to sing.

Nijioka and Shiratori from his class invited him to sing the recently released single of a supposedly famous band he wasn't familiar with and he agreed, adding with a teasing tone for them to not expect too much since he was a model and not a singer.

Kurokami and Ryuugamine weren't horrible; they were actually pretty good. Kurokami had a unique, scratchy edge to her singing voice, and Ryuugamine somehow managed to smoothen her down by singing in soft, silky tones. They blended well together, he had to admit. It was clear that Kurokami was just having fun while Ryuugamine was the one who made an effort to make them both sound good and impress.

The green-haired girl's voice quality wasn't anything amazing, but she still sounded exceptional. While he knew very little about the technicalities of singing, he could at least tell that her notes and pitch were right on. He guessed she'd had some kind of formal voice training. The business sense slowly growing in him thought that she might be able to make it in the entertainment industry, especially with the obvious foreign blood in her.

Still though, singing together with Kurokami, it looked like they've been friends for a long time, lightly bouncing in place and linking arms and laughing, with the other girls cheering and joining in with their song.

The ice between Ryuugamine and the girls from his class quickly broke, but Fujisaki's cousin had yet to incorporate herself into the group. The only one she interacted with was her cousin, who was currently talking to another girl from their class and trying to involve the other purple-haired girl into it as much as she could.

Even among this bunch that united themselves as fans of his, he could clearly see that there were certain internal dynamics in play.

Kise let his lips quirk up into a smile as he sat back on the couch of the karaoke booth, clapping and throwing 80% sincere compliments at Kurokami and Ryuugamine as they finished their song.

* * *

The sun had set and the streetlamps flickered to life. Minena stood by the vending machine, putting in some coins for a can of iced coffee before she went home.

"Excuse me."

She was startled, but it didn't show in her face.

A boy with ice blue hair and impassive eyes of the same color held out a piece of pale yellow paper to her.

"This fell out of your bag," he said in a monotone, glancing over to the nearby bench she had momentarily placed said item on.

"Ah, oh. Thanks, I guess," she replied lamely, taking the scrap of paper from him. He nodded at her once, and she just then registered that he was wearing Teikou's uniform as well.

She didn't hear him coming; she didn't see him walk away.

She unfolded the paper in her hands—it was the reminder for Iwashima's analysis paper for at least three poems from the Hyakunin Isshu that she had hastily tucked into one of the outside pockets of her bag.

Huh. Must've fallen out when she took some spare change from the same pocket.


	4. The Glorious

**A/N:** Haha, well. So. I'm not dead, but my internship is taking a lot more out of me than I thought it would, hence the delay. As promised, this one is a _bit_ longer than others (but still not longer than the first chapter, doi). My internship should end at around the second-to-the-last week of May, so if I can, I'll try to make a double update, but no promises. :| Sorry!

So, like I've said from the very beginning, since I started this before the Teiko Arc, there will be a few inconsistencies with the canon. For the most part, it'll just be the little details, and I'll try to conform to the manga as much as possible from now on, but I won't be going back and changing what's already been established, i.e., Midorima's lucky item on the first day is a paper crane, not a phonebook, and Kise's already debuted as a model before entering Teiko.

And that's it for the important(?) stuff. More of my ramblings at the end of the chapter. Thanks again for all the faves, story alerts and reviews. Love you guys lots. 3

* * *

_chapter four_  
**The Glorious**

* * *

While it was boring having to go through the basic exercise tests, Aomine supposed it could've been worse. He could have been taking a written test—like Satsuki and the other manager applicants, the poor, poor saps.

Working his body was far easier than having to work his mind.

Though the captain did shout a bit too much.

"What the hell?! You expect get into the basketball club with that kind of footwork? Practice your cuts more!"

It was straining his ears in a different way compared to Satsuki's nagging, but it was still straining his ears nonetheless.

Aomine stepped out of the court after his turn at the rebound test—which was so pitifully easily he could do it in his sleep—taking a big gulp from his water bottle as he leant against the wall. He let his eyes wander around, taking in the sight of it all.

The coaches were strict, but reasonable; the captain was loud, but Aomine could tell that he was skilled. The members, especially those who were identified as part of the first string, were all diligent and radiating with a quiet energy. As miraculous as it sounded, he didn't really have anything to complain about.

Besides, the really interesting ones were first years just like him.

The first one to catch his eye was the purple-haired giant with the really complicated name he couldn't be bothered to remember right now. While Aomine couldn't really call him skilled, something about purple-hair was just so incredibly overpowering that when you face him, his lack of skill wasn't a problem at all.

He was like a huge, daunting mountain, especially when he was standing under the hoop. Purple-hair didn't even have to make an effort—he just slapped away the ball whenever it got too close to the hoop. He got a bit annoying with his whiny voice, but Aomine didn't really care. He didn't really expect to get along with him too well, but he supposed he could suck it up on the court for a full game, if his patience didn't run too thin.

Next was the glasses kid who kept showing off with three-pointers. It wouldn't have bothered Aomine too much—he liked showing off with three-pointers as much as the next guy—but the arc to his shots was just completely ridiculous. He could've sworn some of glasses' shots hit the ceiling lights, and waiting for them to fall in really grated at his nerves.

Actually, Aomine couldn't remember if glasses even _made_ two-pointers. He only saw him past the three-point line during defense.

And then, of course, there was the red-haired guy who was with glasses. Aomine remembered him as the first year representative from the opening ceremonies, and he wondered why the top scorer in the entrance exams was trying out for basketball. Though he didn't make a habit of stereotyping people—Satsuki will nag him for it, god forbid—that Akashi kid just didn't really seem like the type.

He wasn't spectacularly fit—his physical capabilities were above average, Aomine would give him that, but he wasn't particularly tall, especially when he stood next to glasses when they talked during breaks. He didn't look like the athletic type either (then again, neither did glasses, so what the hell?). In Aomine's honest opinion, he looked more like the class rep type—smart and responsible.

Still though: at the end of try-outs, when the names of the chosen ones were called out, Aomine wouldn't really call himself surprised.

* * *

It was subtle, but Momoi had always been observant, so she had no trouble picking up on it.

It was thin and sort of discreet in the way it tilted across Ryuugamine's wrist, especially since she was wearing the white blazer of their uniform, but those icy rocks had a brilliant sparkle to them that Momoi had only seen behind glass cases.

She pointed it out while she and her usual group were eating in the cafeteria. Even though she bought just yakisoba bread on the first day, the green-haired Ryuugamine had decided to sample everything in the entire cafeteria menu before the year ended. Today, she got the gyuudon meal.

"Say, Ryuugamine-san," Momoi piped up, as soon as the conversation between Kohaku and Suoh had lulled. "Are those real diamonds?"

Everyone turned their heads at the word "diamonds." They all glanced from Momoi, to Ryuugamine, to the thin band of diamond-embedded white gold that hung elegantly on her wrist.

"Uwaah~ So pretty," Fujisaki complimented, awe fully overtaking her features.

"This?" The green-haired girl lifted her left hand, pulling back the sleeve of her blazer a bit so that it settled against the skin of her wrist. The gleaming purity of the white gold and diamonds was stark against the pale golden hue of Ryuugamine's complexion. "It's Stefani's. My mom cleaned out her dresser a bit and gave me all the jewelry dad had given her."

"Eh? Why?" Kohaku asked, surprised with her reply.

"She's going out with Akio-san now, so she wants to leave memories of her old flame behind, or something like that," Ryuugamine shrugged nonchalantly, going back to her gyuudon.

"That reminds me," Suoh started slowly. "I've been wondering about this for a bit now. Is Ryuugamine-san the daughter of _that_ Ryuugamine Koumi?"

"Yep. That's my mom."

There was a bit of contempt in the smirk that formed on Ryuugamine's lips, and Momoi supposed she could somewhat understand. A few years back, all that Japan was talking about was how the rising Japanese theatre star, Ryuugamine Koumi, had divorced her American director husband after having a scandalous catfight with a veteran actress while at a gala. It was quite the messy affair, now that Momoi thought about it. She had been young when that news spread, but now that she was a bit older, something akin to pity bubbled up in her chest for the green-haired girl. It must have been hard for her.

"That's amazing," Fujisaki said breathlessly. "First there's the model, Kise-kun, in our year; not to mention that majority of the clubs and teams here are nationally-ranked. I even heard that both the student council president and vice-president were offered full scholarships to the high school the Prime Minister attended! There are so many famous people here. It kinda makes me feel really inferior."

"Oh, come on," Kohaku said with a bit of exasperation to her tone. "You're the one whose family owns a chain of restaurants!"

"It's Rina-chan whose father is set to inherit the CEO seat from our grandfather," Fujisaki sniffed.

"I'm starting to feel like I don't belong in this table," Suoh jokingly said to Momoi and Izumi, who both agreed heartily.

"Even Kohaku-san's father is part of the school's board of directors," Izumi pointed out.

"Oi, oi," Kohaku said with a smile. "Why are you making us to be the bad guys?"

"So we'd look like the heroines," Momoi joked, and everyone laughed.

"Minena."

A green-haired boy who looked remarkably similar to Ryuugamine came up to their table, holding out a camouflage-patterned handkerchief that had several, ugly little rips.

There was a bit of hesitance to the boy's tone, and he had a pale pink blush staining his cheeks. He was obvious in how hard he tried to ignore the other girls sitting at the table, and it was like his gaze centered on Ryuugamine and Ryuugamine alone. It made Momoi smile a bit.

It was quite the cute nickname, too.

"I dropped it in a rose bush and it got caught in the thorns," he said, his voice tense and nervous. Somehow, despite his nearly-perfect poker face, this boy was very clearly on the verge of outright panicking.

"What bad luck."

The green-haired boy threw Ryuugamine a sharp glare, and the girl simply grinned in reply. She reached into the pocket of her blazer, procuring a camouflage-patterned hair scrunchie.

"Try to not rip this one to shreds, too," she said wryly. "Wear it—on your _wrist_. Sheesh. Stop making faces. You're the one who ruined my Mercury handkerchief. And it's part of the fall set Akio-san gave me, too."

It looked like the green-haired boy was trying very hard not to snap back at her. His lips pressed into a thin line, substituting the ripped handkerchief with the hair scrunchie. As Minena had advised, he wore it on his wrist, though he made sure it was hidden under the sleeve of his blazer.

He walked away with a very, _very_ forced, "Thank you." Ryuugamine just shook her head, picking up her chopsticks once again.

"Relative?" Kohaku asked, the small smile on her face clearly saying that she enjoyed the show.

"Neighbor," Ryuugamine replied easily, and Fujisaki let out a muffled squeal.

"A childhood friend?" she asked giddily. "_The_ childhood friend?"

An amused smile formed on Ryuugamine's lips as she swallowed. "Actually . . . "

Kohaku clamped a hand onto Momoi's shoulder. "Okay, Momoi. Now that we've met _Minena-chan's_ dear childhood sweetheart, introduce us to yours, too, and then we'll compare."

Momoi grimaced, shaking her head furiously. "No, no! I told you guys already: Aomine-kun is just a friend! Geez."

"He's tall! What's his name?" Fujisaki asked Ryuugamine.

"Midorima Shintarou. He lives in the house next to the one we moved into," Ryuugamine said. "Our mothers went to the same elementary, middle school, and high school."

"So, what's with the cute nickname?" Suoh asked with a grin.

These girls were feral, really.

"My grandparents called me that, and since they were the ones who lived in that house and talked to the neighbors, pretty much everyone in our street calls me 'Minena'. In fact, I don't think they know my name is actually 'Hatsuna'," she said, shrugging. "You're free to call me that, too, if you want."

"Oh, but it would take away such _special privileges_ from Midorima-kun," Fujisaki said teasingly. She shook her head sagely, "No, no. Only _Midorima-kun_ has the right for that."

Ryuugamine arched an eyebrow in amusement.

"Okay, but what was that about the handkerchief and scrunchie?" Suoh asked. "Does he have a thing for that design?"

Ryuugamine shook her head, "He's a devotee of Oha Asa. Cancer's lucky item of the day is anything with a camouflage pattern."

"My sister only listens to that when they have a basketball game," Kohaku grinned. "She and the captain have the same horoscope, and she told me it works pretty well."

"I suppose it's pretty accurate," Ryuugamine mused. "Then again, some of lucky items are just plain weird."

"Oh, I remember!" Kohaku exclaimed. "On the final day of the Summer Tournament last year, Aimi-nee's lucky item was supposed to be a dakimakura with a bishounen. She was able to borrow one from one of the basketball player—"

"What?!"

"—player's _sister_," she finished, and Fujisaki grinned sheepishly at her overreaction.

Kohaku leaned back a bit, crossing her arms over her chest as she closed her eyes and nodded. "Well, despite that, I don't really know if it's because of Aimi-nee's lucky items or the Teiko team is really just that strong. The captain, Nijimura-senpai, isn't to be taken lightly, and neither are the coaches."

"Yeah, they all looked intimidating," Momoi commented with a sheepish grin on her face. "Even Aomine-kun was no match to them, haha."

"I know, right?" Kohaku said. Then, she lowered her voice, leaning over the table with a scandalous look in her face. "But Aimi-nee tells me that even the coaches are nothing compared to the Student Council President."

"3-A's Sorano Aya, right?" Izumi confirmed.

"She was already president last year, and she got the board to drop the special A class system to promote student equality. Her campaign for it made quite a ruckus, and in the end the she got the board to force their hand. This is the last year there'll be special A classes, and starting next year, classes are going to be assigned randomly," Kohaku said. "Daddy did nothing but complain about it last year."

"Wow," Fujisaki exclaimed breathlessly. "And she was only a second-year then?"

"They also said that last year's Teiko-sai was the most successful there is. Since the President was able to get the board to approve the lengthened three-day schedule for the festival, they managed to rake in a lot of big-time sponsors, too."

"That's right!" Fujisaki commented. "The heir to the Kihara Group was a third year and part of the student council last year, so they were a major sponsor for their events."

"Apparently, this year, the President is pushing for Teiko-sai to be a week-long event," Kohaku said with a grin. "Daddy's already complaining about it."

"Sorano Aya, huh?" Suoh said. "She sounds like quite an amazing person."

"'_Amazing_' doesn't even begin to describe it," Kohaku said with a sigh. "Her nickname really suits her, too."

"Let me guess," Ryuugamine said—her smiled tinged with a hint of sarcasm that only Momoi picked up on—as she placed her elbows on the table and cradled her chin in her hands. "It's '_Joutei_.'"

* * *

"I'm back."

Minato let his eyes stray from the TV screen, looking over his shoulder to greet his sister as she passed by the living room.

"You got a letter from Kourin-san. I slipped it under your door before mom found out."

Minena stopped at the foot of the stairs, turning her head to gaze at the entrance to the living room.

"Kourin . . . ? Ah—_that_ guy," she mumbled to herself. She fished out her phone from the pocket of her skirt, remembering the text message from before as she unlocked the screen with a swipe of her thumb. "You should've just burned it."

Minato's ears picked up on his sister's last comment. He turned his gaze back to the television screen, popping a potato chip into his mouth.

"But it probably has a check again."

* * *

**Translation Notes:**

**Dakimakura.** Those long pillow-things with the characters often in suggestive poses.  
**Teiko-sai.** A nickname for the Teiko School Festival. Literally just means "_Teiko festival_." Yay creativity.  
**Joutei.** Empress. The '_tei_' in "Joutei" is the same as the '_tei_' in "Teiko."

* * *

**Some other stuff:**

Okay then. Just FYI, _Freundeskreis_ will only cover their Teiko years. There will eventually be a sequel covering their high school years, but it will be posted as a different story.

Also, someone already asked this before in a review but I forgot to reply to it, orz: The title, _Freundeskreis_, is German for 'a circle of friends.' The meaning will be hinted at all throughout the story, and maybe (probably will be) properly explained in the last chapter if I feel like I haven't gotten my point across, haha.

On another note, I've noticed that a lot of new people are putting this story on their alerts, but not reviewing. While I won't force anyone to review, I'd love to hear from you guys, so I will be putting up after-chapter questions that you can answer. :) Don't be shy about your opinions, I don't bite very hard, haha. :D

**Question of the Chapter:** How would you guys describe Minena?

Tell me all about what you think of her. :) Maybe give some adjectives and why you say that. I actually have a written profile about her that I'm trying to follow, so your answers can help me know whether I've been characterizing her according to plan or if she's going Mary Sue.

* * *

**Follow-up stuff:**

I'm thinking of posting some short OC romances with the MiraGen, like noelswonderland is doing. Like, 11/12/13-chapter things, with relatively long chaps; kinda like a regular, 1-season anime. It'll take a while before I put any up, but who do you guys want to see first? (Though I have my own biases, so depending on what inspiration comes to me, certain people will definitely come up before others, haha.)

I've put a poll for this in my profile. Feel free to vote. :D

* * *

**Other stuff:**

Stefani's = Tiffany's  
Mercury = Hermes


	5. The Reversed Hierophant

**A/N:** Ack. Sorry for the late chapter. D: I went back home after my internship ended, but the internet there was acting up. I had to wait until I got to my aunt's (where I stay when in uni) for a better connection.

Anyway. Have you guys read the latest chapter? The first thing I did when I got internet was read the KnB updates, haha. Ohmygawd. "Ogihara Shigehiro" was Kagami's name in the pilot version of _Kuroko no Basuke_, which was included in the fanbook. Actually, would you guys know if anyone's translated/scanlated it? I'm willing to, but if there's already someone who's done/is doing it, I don't want to spend the extra effort, durr.

Also, KnB got a Tagalog dub (I live in the Philippines; any Filipino readers out there? :D), and my mom started watching it, haha. She's actually already finished watching it on my laptop, and she's now reading the chapters I have. :P Anyway, since Midorima's into horoscopes and all, she gave me this book which describes the personalities of each Zodiac sign, and I have to say, they are eerily accurate, even in real life. She was the Gemini description (she and Kise have the same sign, derp) to the dot.

Okay, well. This is already getting too long, so I'll put the update schedule at the end instead. Personally, I feel like the writing in this chapter is all over the place, but the Intro Arc ends either next chapter or in the one after that, and then the first story arc's plot starts picking up. :) Happy reading!

* * *

_chapter five_  
**The Reversed Hierophant**

* * *

"Are you alright?"

Momoi placed a cautious hand on Ryuugamine's shoulder. The green-haired girl was bent over one of the sinks outside the auditorium, her thumb and index finger pressing together the skin on the bridge of her nose.

They had just finished running 2 laps around the track oval for PE class, and Momoi grew concerned when Ryuugamine took too long in returning after saying she was just going to wash her face.

"Ah, no—I'm fine," Ryuugamine said, straightening up with her right eye closed. She brought her right hand close to her eyes, blinking them rapidly. Grabbing one end of the towel around her neck, she wiped off the excess water on her face. Smiling lightly, she told Momoi, "My contacts just dried up a bit when I washed my face."

"Ah—ehh? Ryuugamine-san wears contacts?"

Momoi tilted her head a bit, looking into the startling deep blue of Ryuugamine's eyes.

She was pretty sure they were dark green just yesterday.

"Glasses don't suit me very well," Ryuugamine said with a sheepish smile as they headed back to where the other members of their usual group were lazing around, resting a bit before getting ready for the 100-meter sprints they had up next.

"Not at all! If it's Ryuugamine-san, I'm sure you'll look great no matter what you wear!" Momoi said.

"Haha, well, not quite. Orange doesn't look good on me at all," Ryuugamine said, a slight lilt to her voice as she laughed lightly.

"Ah! Momoi, Ryuugamine!"

They saw Fujisaki excitedly waving them over to the crowd of girls near the wire fence that separated the track oval from the soccer field, where the boys were playing a game.

"You're not going to believe it!" Fujisaki said, eyes sparkling with amazement. "So, Tanaka-kun just pulled off this incredibly cool move called the Bicycle Kick!"

"Tanaka-kun tried out for the soccer club, right?" Momoi said with a tilt of her head. "He must be very good if he can do such an advanced technique already."

"That wasn't the amazing part," Suoh said, eyes still a bit wide from disbelief.

"Haizaki, who was playing on the other team, got a return goal with a Bicycle Kick of his own," Kohaku said, her eyes glimmering, not with amazement or disbelief like Fujisaki and Suoh, but with uncertainty, and maybe a bit of fear. "He just copied it like it was nothing. Honestly, it was kind of scary."

"What are you saying? That was totally cool!" Fujisaki gushed. "He might be even cooler than Kise-kun!"

Kohaku frowned. "From an athlete's point of view, that kind of pick-up ability is just plain frightening. He's not in any sports club, but if word gets out, then I'm pretty sure all the teams will be trying to recruit him."

"Haizaki, huh . . . " Ryuugamine muttered. Turning to Momoi, she asked, "He's the guy who sits next to me, right?"

Momoi had a sharp look in her eyes as she watched the still on-going soccer match between the boys. Haizaki dribbled the ball right past three defenders, easily earning a point by kicking it into a course that brushed dangerously close to the goalie, who had jumped to the opposite direction in fright.

"Haizaki Shougo . . . His physical capabilities are quite fearsome," Momoi commented. "His huge potential is pretty much untapped, but if he gets into a sport and trains properly . . . "

Her voice trailed off, and Ryuugamine could almost see the gears in her mind turning, mechanically analyzing Haizaki and his abilities.

In a way, Momoi was quite the monster with untapped potential as well.

"Hey! Watch out!"

The ball flew into a high arc in the sky, easily going over the steel fence and into the area of the track oval.

"I'll go get it," Ryuugamine announced as she jogged away.

Momoi's eyes were torn away from Haizaki as she watched Ryuugamine run away, eyes directed at a spot near the bleachers by the starting line.

Like she knew with just a glance where the ball would fall.

Ryuugamine stopped and turned around when she reached the low wall between the bleachers and the track, directing her eyes up at the ball and sliding her left foot backwards.

"Haizaki, heads up!"

The ball dropped right in front of her. Before it could even touch the ground, she took a quick step forward and kicked it with her right foot, sending it flying into the blue sky.

"One-touch? No way!" Kohaku exclaimed as everyone's eyes were drawn to the ball making an elegant arc over their heads.

After reaching its apex, the ball started to drop. Momoi didn't need to be a physics expert to know that it was heading straight towards Haizaki, who proceeded to pull off another incredibly crazy stunt.

Like with Ryuugamine, the ball dropped right at his feet. Like Ryuugamine, he kicked it away with one smooth move before the ball even made contact with the ground.

Right into the opponent's goal.

"I'm cool with that one not counting," Haizaki announced with a lazy grin on his face. His gaze flickered towards the green-haired girl standing on the track with a hand on her hip. He licked his lips, turning to a shell-shocked Tanaka with smirk firmly in place. "I'll get another one in anyway."

* * *

"Hm? The Fujisaki-chan duo and Ryuugamine-chan aren't joining us today?"

And here Kise was in a good mood right after a successful photo shoot yesterday for an ad that would put his face up on a billboard. He thought he could maybe humor the Fujisaki who wasn't in his class with a chat and some attention, and maybe make an attempt at peeling off Ryuugamine's mask.

"Ah, Rina-chan had class rep duties to take care of," Nijioka said. "I don't really know about the other two . . . "

"I'm not sure about Rina-chan's cousin, but I saw Hatsuna-chan going to the rooftop with some guy," Kurokami said. She tilted her head in a manner that was probably an attempt at 'cute,' "Now that I think about it, he was handsome, but he looked pretty wild and had this dangerous air around him . . . I wonder if that's her type . . . "

"Hmmm, really?"

Kise assumed the churning in his stomach was hunger.

"Well, that's too bad, then. Anyway, shall we get going? I'm getting really hungry, and I have a lot of stories from yesterday's photo shoot," Kise said with a bright smile.

He felt a bit better when he heard the shallow compliments rushing into his ears again.

Yeah. This way was fine, too.

* * *

Akashi looked up, weaving a pleasant smile onto his face as a familiar green-haired girl entered the room. "Well, if it isn't Ryuugamine-san."

Her eyes momentarily scanned the classroom before meeting his. She returned his smile, walking over and taking the empty spot beside him. She placed an elbow on the desk, supporting her chin in the palm of her hand as she angled herself toward him.

"Somehow, I get the feeling you actually volunteered for this position, despite already having your duties as the first year representative and as a member of the basketball club," she said with a calm lilt to her tone. "You seem to like troubling yourself with bothersome things. Including Shin-chan."

He chuckled a bit, closing the book he was reading and fully turning to face the green-haired girl beside him.

"Not at all. Midorima-kun has been very . . . accommodating," he replied with a good-humored smile. "He comes off as a bit strict and uptight, but he seems like a good person."

She laughed. "Well, if that's the case, I'll let you learn the hard way," she said, a half-serious, half-joking tone to her voice. "I'll leave Shin-chan in your capable hands from now on. You're taking a huge load off my shoulders, so feel free to ask me for help any time."

He laughed silently in return. "You two seem quite close."

"We're childhood friends after all."

A calm smile stretched across Akashi's face. "Well, considering what you said earlier, I presume you didn't volunteer for this position like I did?"

Ryuugamine's lips pressed into a thin line as she averted her gaze to the blackboard in front of them. "I might have been roped into it."

"Not getting along with your classmates?"

"Oh, no. Some of my friends nominated me for the position. Apparently, the Going Home Club isn't an official club here, haha," she said. There was a bit of a strain to her smile as she mumbled, "Just because they're in clubs of their own . . ."

But she swallowed her resentment easily, waving one hand in front of her face. "Ah, don't get me wrong though! They're good people, and I don't particularly mind. Besides, now I have a reason to go home late."

Akashi kept the smile on his face. "Yes, and we can spend more time exchanging embarrassing stories of Midorima-kun."

"Ah!" She pounded a fist into the palm of her other hand like she had just made the greatest discovery in the world. Akashi could almost swear that the smile that stretched out on her face was making her glow. "That's a very good idea!"

Amusement flickered in his eyes as she went to rant about how Midorima kept telling her not to drop by during practice. She quickly got through the story of how he started basketball and how he became a shooter—apparently, Midorima had called basketball "stupid" when she had him sit through her _Slam Dunk_ marathon, so she challenged him to a shooting match. Since basketball was a popular sport in New York, where she grew up, she had a bit of experience playing and could at least get the ball in the hoop. She had completely crushed Midorima, who had no experience whatsoever. But being as "stubborn and self-righteous" as he was, he had practiced shooting and challenged her a week later.

"Can you believe that guy? He managed to get ten out of ten in, and I have to admit, even _I_ was impressed. But then he completely had to ruin the moment by suddenly apologizing—apparently, he somehow popped to ball I lent him. _But_ he was going to give me that new one he bought, so it was fine; Oha Asa said he was lucky that day, so I would definitely forgive him."

"That sounds like something Midorima-kun would say," Akashi said with an amused smile on his face.

"I didn't even bother to ask how on earth he managed to _pop a basketball_." Ryuugamine placed her chin on her palms, sighing heavily. "Well, I did forgive him for that, but I was still a bit angry, so I challenged him to a one-on-one. His defense was nonexistent, and his offense was all over the place since he couldn't even run while dribbling. All he knew was how to shoot. And after that, he went to the sports complex our neighbor's friend owned and learned basketball there. He was watching the NBA the next time I came over to his house."

"So, in a way, you were the one who convinced Midorima-kun to play basketball?"

She glanced at him, shrugging. " . . . I suppose? Well, that show-off was shooting nothing but three-pointers before I realized it, so I can't really say I'm responsible for his growth. I never actually expected him to get this good. All he cared about back then was good grades and becoming a doctor like his dad." She tapped a finger to her chin. "In fact, the Shin-chan now is quite different from that monster who drilled me with sixth-grade kanji right after I barely passed the tenth level of the kanji kentei . . . And he calls _me_ Spartan," she mumbled out the last part.

When she segued into another rant about Midorima and his lucky items, Akashi couldn't help but wonder how she talked to him so freely about personal matters, despite the fact that they had only met once before on the first day of classes. She spoke to him like he was a normal person, and he idly wondered if she knew who he was and what he was heir to, and if she didn't, how she would react if she realized. In a way, it disturbed him slightly how easily he had gotten what he wanted—to be treated normally—from a girl he barely knew, and barely knew him. In fact, her name was the only thing he knew for sure about her. Akashi prided himself in being able to accurately read people, but despite this girl easily showing him what she cared about the most, he couldn't see anything beyond that.

It wasn't that she was hiding things. It wasn't likely, either, that she was faking—she genuinely cared about Midorima Shintarou, he could at least ascertain that much. But that was just it.

It was like the green-haired boy was the only thing that connected her to the world. Their encounters so far somehow revolved around Midorima, so Akashi couldn't really be sure, but there was this air of disjoint around her—like she wasn't at all grounded and nearly completely detached from others. The only things he was able to pick up about her were what she offered him—nothing more, nothing less.

Ryuugamine Hatsuna was a curious one, that much was certain.

He kept listening not only because he didn't make a habit of turning down free blackmail material, but also because despite the fact that others describe him as 'cold,' he didn't really have the heart to interrupt her right now—not when she glowed as she talked about her Shin-chan.

Even if the more she talked about him, the more he was beginning to doubt the absoluteness of her care him.

Crossing his arms and leaning back on his chair, Akashi simply let her talk. He had three years to figure her out.

Middle school was just starting.

* * *

The door opened, and everyone's gaze was directed to the person standing under the doorway. It was a girl of average height and build, with stormy gray hair pinned down in a half ponytail that had the strands curling down her back, and sharp eyes of the same color. She had fine features, and was very pretty when she smiled. Her beauty was muted and gentle, like a flower on the side of the road, which, on second look, would actually be deemed quite lovely.

"Good day to all of you," the stormy haired girl said, walking up to the teacher's table followed by a red-haired boy Minena recognized as the vice-president who had given a speech at the opening ceremonies on behalf of the Teikou Middle School Student Council. "My name is Sorano Aya, your Student Council President for this school year." She gestured to the crimson-haired boy, "And this is the vice-president."

"Benihara Tokio," he introduced himself with a bow. There was a shadow of a smile on his face, just enough to make him look approachable, but not really reaching his eyes. It gave him an odd expression, probably because of his hollowed cheeks and visible eye bags, which were as dark as Minena remembered from the opening ceremonies. "Let's all work together to make this one of Teikou's best years."

"Well then, first off . . . " Sorano held out a piece of paper, "Please fill up this sheet with your name, student number, class, and the email address provided to you by the school. We'll be making a database of it, along with the information of the captains and presidents of the athletic and arts and sciences clubs, as well as the Student Council members'. Sometimes, clubs have projects that require some extra help, so if your club or class or someone in it is interested, we'll all have a way of contacting each other. As class representatives, you were all chosen by your constituent groups to embody them and their interests to the rest of the school. You are all bridges; you are expected to appropriately represent your classes to the school, and the school to your classes in good will."

She passed the paper to Benihara, who walked over to the person sitting on the seat nearest the door.

"The database should be finished by next week. We'll be making them available for public viewing on the Student Council's website, but we'll be giving a printed copy to everyone whose name is on the list for easy reference. Are there any questions so far?"

There was a hint of awkwardness in the way Sorano talked, but in all honesty, Minena was still surprised with her level of professionalism. A quick glance around the classroom showed that nearly all of the first year representatives were still trying to adjust themselves to the situation, and most of the upperclassmen, as well. Her very figure oozed authority, but not the bad kind. It wasn't that she forced others to respect her, nor was it that she demanded it from them; rather, there was something about her overall presence that nudged people in all the right places that they begin thinking, "_It wouldn't be bad to follow this person at all._"

It was an all-too familiar sensation that had the green-haired girl forcing back the nausea that lodged itself at the back of her throat.

"If there aren't any, I'll be explaining the agenda for this meeting next," Sorano said. She turned to Benihara, who nodded and began handing out smaller pieces of paper containing the agenda. "There's quite a lot to discuss, so I'd like to get to it right away."

Minena quickly scanned the contents of the handout. Right on top of the list was the campaign for the week-long Teikou-sai Kohaku had told her Sorano was pushing for. Then there was the sports festival to be held right after summer break, when most of the sports teams would have finished their national tournaments. A variety of other projects were listed, including celebrations for holidays and a couple community projects.

Of course, it wasn't all parties and events. There were also lecture series to be conducted by well-known academics, pre-exam peer review sessions, and open forums on relevant issues.

All this was most definitely not within the capabilities of a normal middle school student council.

But then again, Minena just had to grimace. According to Kohaku, this school's level of student involvement had apparently risen in the last two years.

She snuck a glance over at Akashi, who was scanning the handout with a businessman-like coolness in his eyes.

"Well, the major thing I'd like to tackle in this meeting would be the campaign for the Teikou School Festival to become a week-long event," Sorano started, leaning forward on the teacher's desk. "This is the most immediate matter at hand, and I expect it would take a while to fully discuss. So, before I continue, does anyone have any questions?"

* * *

**Notes:**

**Bicycle Kick:** Also called a "Scissors Kick." The player kicks the ball from behind with his ankle, making a kind of scissors shape with his legs.  
**One-touch:** As the name implies, when the ball is passed to a player, he doesn't dribble, but kicks it again right away.  
[_**Relevant:**__ My soccer knowledge is limited to what I've seen in anime and what I've researched. I am not a hardcore fan, nor do I have any experience, so don't expect too much. In comparison, I played a bit of basketball as PE for high school, so info about that will be more accurate. Not saying I can really play though; I just _know how_ to. /shifty-eyes_]

* * *

**Question of the Chapter:** What would you say about the writing of this story?

Originally, this started as an experiment in writing with a light novel-ish feel. Honestly though, only the first chapter sounds like a light novel; succeeding chapters are pretty much in my original style, orz. I try to sneak it a couple of phrases/sentences that sound light novel-ish, but they keep sounding forced, so I change them eventually. Also, how would you guys rate this story in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation, technicals, etc.? I went back to the previous chapters and found some mistakes that are so elementary, I had to bang my head on the desk for even making them in the first place. I'm currently editing the back chapters, and I plan on re-uploading them before the end of the month. Nothing major, though. I just want to make sure things are consistent and presentable. :)

* * *

**Updates:**

Okay. If anyone is unaware, _Freundeskreis_ generally updates at the end of every month, give or take a few days.

Anyway, since I owe you guys for that no update April, Chapter Six will be posted around mid-June, and Chapter Seven at the end of the month. :) Chapter Six is already finished; just some final editing and adjustments. It's Chapter Seven I worry about, haha, but I should be able to finish it soon. The plot starts moving in the next few chapters, so look forward to them. :D

Thanks for all the follows, faves and reviews! Special thanks to **hokkyokukou** and **MikoSasesko**. Your insights on Minena's character really helped! At least I know I'm doing something right, haha. :D Digital cookies for you!


	6. Sides of a Coin

**A/N:** Sooo, I drew Minena and some others. I've posted it on my newly-made **Livejournal** account because they're just pencil sketches and not worthy of dA, haha. Link is in my profile. I'm going to posting some other stuff related to the story there, too, like short profiles, maybe extras and previews. Please check it out if you have the time. I'm still in the process of building it up, so don't expect too much yet. Just use the tags to filter out whatever other obsessions/life stories I post there that you might not be interested in reading.

Anyway, Chapters 1 & 2 have been edited and updated. In general, I'll be cleaning out the chapters as I edit them, so any stuff not too important or directly related to the story will go to lj instead of here. Including rants, my thoughts about chapters, maybe sneak previews for upcoming arcs, or other possible projects.

Also, I've changed my username to **enkasai**.

As always, thanks for all the reviews, faves and follows! Happy Father's Day!

* * *

_chapter six_  
**Sides of a Coin**

* * *

One lazy Saturday afternoon, Minena narrowed her eyes at the message obnoxiously staring at her from the screen of her cellphone.

_**Subject:**__ Do you have any of the following_

_**Message: **_

_A Boomerang_  
_Pearl jewelry_  
_A Jizo figure_

_These are the lucky items for next week that I am missing._  
_If you have any, please drop them off at my house. _  
_If you are missing any, please help me find them. Practice ends at 5:30. _  
_The boomerang is top priority. It is Monday's lucky item._

Minena rolled over in her bed.

"Miiinato!"

"Whaaat?!"

"Do you have a boomerang?"

" .. . Nagasaki-san from the CD shop went to Australia once! Tell Shin-nii to ask him!"

"'Kay! Thanks!"

* * *

Midorima placed his hands on his knees, breathing heavily after the running exercises. Distance was not the problem, as one would initially expect—they were simply running around the court. Rather, it was the pace that really had his heart pumping. The oxygen build-up in the muscles of his calves had him wincing in pain, and he wanted nothing other than to sit down and massage them until the throbbing went away, but he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to stand back up again until the end of practice. The older regulars were still going, but he and the other first years—even that show-off, Aomine, had collapsed spread-eagle on the floor—were already out of gas.

"Midorima-kun."

"Hah?" Midorima glanced to his left, where Akashi stood, breathing deeply and covered in sweat but still standing straight, arms crossed over his chest and looking as regal as ever.

"Up there."

Midorima looked up and saw two people on the second landing—one of them easily recognizable with hair styled in a neat bun with decorative chopsticks pushed through.

Midorima stood up straight, taking off his glasses and wiping them on the hem of his sweat-drenched shirt before putting them back on.

"Why is Minena—?"

Then he recognized the other, taller figure in the smart suit, who seemed to be cheerfully conversing with his childhood friend.

"—talking to the head coach? They are _laughing_. She will give him _ideas_. This is _bad_. _Very_ bad. We're going to _die_."

Akashi's lips quirked up into a faint smirk, and Murasakibara stared at him with lazy eyes, the nozzle of his water bottle hanging between his teeth. Aomine was apparently already too dead to care.

"I'm sure she'll take it easy on us," Akashi said lightly, his voice betraying only the slightest bit of breathlessness.

"Oi, first years! If you're rested up enough that you're just chit-chatting over there, get back to running!" the captain, Nijimura, barked as he and the rest of the senpai ran past them. Stopping and jogging in place in front of them, he jerked a finger towards the boy spread-eagle on the floor, harshly shouting, "And go wake the bastard up! I'll kill him if his muscles get stiff! There's still three hours of practice to go!"

As Nijimura ran off to follow the others, Akashi sighed heavily, turning to the purple-haired giant, "Murasakibara-kun, come help me wake Aomine-kun."

Murasakibara placed his water bottle on the bench with a hum, walking towards where Aomine lay.

"Not sure dead people can wake up again though~"

There was something in Akashi's smirk that Midorima couldn't quite place.

"It's easy. Here, let me show you."

* * *

"Here you go. Boomerang. Monday's lucky item. Nagasaki-san from the CD shop Minato likes had one."

Minena held out the boomerang with both hands, head tilting and her bangs bouncing softly from the movement. The head coach had left earlier, but gave her permission to observe from the benches. She didn't interfere with practice, patiently watching with the managers. She seemed well-acquainted with one them in particular—the pink-haired girl who was supposed to be Aomine's childhood friend, Momoi.

Midorima sighed, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. "There's only been four days of classes. You can't be _that_ behind on science already."

"What's with that accusation? I'm not that hopeless. And to think I went all the way to town and back here after I got home from classes . . . Where's my thanks?"

Midorima crossed his arms, ignoring the stares of the other members as they came out of the locker room. They'd been curious about her ever since the head coach brought her down and told them to treat her as a guest. The training kept them from actually approaching her, but they'd been whispering amongst themselves for quite a while now.

"Is that so? Fine, then. Thank you."

"I might need to borrow a couple of notes though . . . "

And there it was.

Minena generally did well academically without much effort. In fact, one could argue that she did _too_ well for not bothering to study much at all. However, she was surprisingly weak in the sciences. It wasn't because she had trouble grasping the concepts, though. Her learning speed was almost frightening when he tutored her, to be honest. Her only problem was that the terminology used was different. She could understand it well enough if explained using English terms, but her grasp on science-related kanji and vocabulary was below par for an institution like Teikou.

Midorima sighed. While he couldn't quite be fully put at ease since she didn't do everything she could, he at least acknowledged that she somewhat _tried_. This was good enough for now. She was definitely trying more than she did during elementary.

Besides, she _did_ properly study for Teikou's entrance exam, so he assumed she actually wanted a good education, instead of just settling for a no-name school she could pass without putting in too much effort.

"Fine. Now, let's go home. I'm tired from practice."

"Roger."

Midorima flinched. "Stop that. You sound like your brother."

She simply smiled at him.

"Ah—wait," she stopped, grabbing onto the sleeve of his shirt. "At least say good-bye to Akashi-kun and Momoi-san."

One end of Midorima's lips slanted down. "How do you even know Momoi-san?"

"Hm? She's my classmate," Minena replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Come on, we were sitting together when you asked for a replacement for that Mercury handkerchief you ripped to pieces. Didn't you notice?"

"Tch," Midorima turned his head, remembering his most unlucky day of the week. "How do you expect me to notice something that pointless?"

Minena crossed her arms and gave him a look. "How rude. She's a manager for the basketball team. She'll be taking care of you guys from now on, so at least be kind to her."

"Ahh! Ryuugamine-san! Are you heading home already?"

Momoi walked out from the locker room, dragging a worn-out Aomine by his arm behind her.

"Yeah. Where are you headed? We can all walk back home together," Minena offered.

"Don't decide things like that by yourself," Midorima scolded, not really wanting to walk home with Aomine.

Unsurprisingly, he was ignored.

Aomine, who had been freed from Momoi's grasp, leaned over to him, harshly whispering, "You bastard, where'd you get a girl as hot as that?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Midorima deadpanned.

"Ah, really?" Aomine's eyes gave the green-haired girl talking to Momoi a once-over. "She looks foreign, but there's not much in the chest department. Huh, weird. Not really my type though."

"Wha—? Where the hell are you looking?" Midorima spluttered out, a bit of pink tinting his cheeks.

Aomine waved a hand in front of his face. "Relax. I ain't planning on stealing her from you."

"I told you: she's not my—"

"It looks like everyone's going the in the same direction, so let's all walk back home together, okay?" Momoi announced happily.

"I never agreed—" Midorima started, but was rudely interrupted.

"Then, let's go!" Minena said enthusiastically, clapping her hands together. "Ah—but we haven't said good-bye to Akashi-kun yet."

"He was still in the locker room when I went to get Aomine-kun," Momoi said. "He should be out in a bit, though. Are you acquainted with him, Ryuugamine-san?"

"Oh, really? Then, let's wait for a bit longer, then. He can come with us, too, if he's going in the same direction. He's Shin-chan's classmate after all."

"That's right! Midorima-kun's from class 1-A, too," Momoi said as Aomine mockingly whispered to Midorima.

"_Shin-chan_? Pft."

Momoi had picked up on it, however.

"Is something the matter, Dai-chan?"

"Geh." Aomine looked away as Midorima sent him a smirk.

"Well, anyway . . . " Minena started, changing the topic. "Is it just me or is that one guy by the locker room trying to burn a hole in me with his eyes?"

The three of them looked over to where she indicated, seeing Murasakibara crouched down with a thumb on his lower lip and a wishful look in his eyes.

"That," Midorima gestured to the plastic bag Minena held in her right hand.

"This?" She brought it up, the crinkling of the foil packaging of potato chips resounding. "There was a time sale at the supermarket when I passed through, so I thought I'd buy some for Minato . . . "

"Well, can't really blame the big guy for being hungry after that practice, I s'ppose" Aomine said, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah—Akashi-kun's out."

Akashi quickly noticed their group, and Minena waved him over. He said a few words to the crouching Murasakibara, who loyally followed after him like a giant puppy.

"It's nice to see you again, Ryuugamine-san," Akashi greeted with a calm smile. Gesturing to the tallest one in their group, "This is Murasakibara Atsushi. He's one of the first years who made it into the first string, too. I see you're already acquainted with Aomine-kun and Momoi-san."

"We were all just about to head home. Do the two of you want to walk back with us?" Minena asked.

"Then, you'll be heading in the same way as Midorima-kun? Unfortunately, I live in the opposite direction. Murasakibara-kun as well."

"Ah, that's too bad," Minena said. Her eyes shifted to the purple-haired giant who was fiercely staring at the plastic bag in her hands.

Blinking, she reached into it and took out one of the packages.

Midorima cringed—it was Minato's usual wasabi-flavored ones. So that's why she wasn't looking hassled at all after a time sale. They were pretty much the only people in the world Midorima knew who actually bought that flavor.

"It's all wasabi-flavored, but if you don't mind, you can have one," she said, offering him the green package.

"Eh? Wasabi?" Momoi repeated, the strap of her bag sliding down just the tiniest bit from her shoulder.

"Ah—I really like that flavor, too," Murasakibara said, not wasting another second as he took the pack of chips and ripped it open.

"You like it?!" Aomine exclaimed in disbelief, staring at Murasakibara as he threw chips in his mouth, one after another.

"It's actually not that bad," Minena said, shrugging. "Though the aftertaste does leave much to be desired . . . "

Sighing, Midorima pinched the bridge of his nose. Turning on his heel, he said, "Minena, if you're going to waste time here, I'm going ahead."

"Ehhh? Shin-chan, wait up!"

She bit the insides of her cheeks, looking at Midorima's retreating back.

"That guy, really . . . " She sighed, taking a step back. "Well, I guess we'll be going ahead. Sorry about this, Momoi-san, Aomine-kun. Maybe next time. I'll see you at school then, Akashi-kun. And it was nice meeting you, Murasakibara-kun."

Akashi returned her farewells with his usual smile.

"Bye-bye, Nena-chin. Thanks for the chips."

She faltered in her step, "Eh? 'Nena-chin' . . . ? Aaah—" Minena looked over her shoulder, seeing Midorima almost at the gates. She shook her head, shrugging off the matter. "Well, bye, then! Hey, Shin-chan, wait up!"

"They're quite upbeat, aren't they?" Akashi commented as Minena ran to catch up to Midorima, who had stopped by the gates to wait for her.

"I know, right?" Momoi said, a bubbly tone to her voice.

* * *

"Ah, no—sorry. I'm not particularly interested."

Minena remembered the person in front of her as one of the girls from Kise's class—Shiratori Masaki, if memory served her right.

"No way! Impossible! I heard that your little brother, Minato-kun, was chosen as the youngest representative for the Japanese Youth Team! With that kind of amazing little brother, the older sister definitely has to play, too!"

"Um, no, that's why—well . . . I haven't really played in nearly three years," Minena replied tiredly.

"A blank doesn't matter! With the right training, you'll be back in top form! Tanaka-kun told me all about your last PE class!" Shiratori said enthusiastically, eyes shining with determination and hands balled into eager fists in front of her. "The girls' soccer team here is mostly third years right now, so we need all the fresh faces we can get!"

"I'm really sorry, but I have other priorities."

Shiratori slumped her shoulders, pouting exaggeratedly. "Don't say that! The soccer club really needs you!"

"Ah, I'm really sorry, but—" Minena paused for a bit, trying to think up an excuse, "Right now, I have some family matters to resolve, so . . . "

Shiratori blinked and backed off at the mention of 'family.' Minena heaved an internal sigh of relief and mustered up the most dejected face she could.

"Well, if that's the case, then I suppose there's no helping it," Shiratori said, honestly seeming apologetic. "I'm sorry for having troubled you so much. I hope things with your family get settled quickly."

Shiratori bowed and walked away, and Minena turned to head back to her classroom.

"That was definitely an Oscar-winning performance."

Haizaki was crouched in front of the vending machine, picking up two packets of juice. Standing back up with a smirk, he handed one to her.

She closed her eyes, sighing deeply. Taking the one he didn't offer, she told him, "I don't really like strawberry."

As soon as she pushed the straw in, Haizaki wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought his face down, drinking from the packet in her hands.

"Well, neither do I, so you're gonna have to deal," he said, taking away the packet of mango juice from her hands and replacing it with the unopened strawberry one. Haizaki clinked together their juice packets, and Minena sighed again as he proceeded to steer her through the hallways back to their classroom, his arm still splayed over her shoulders.

"Do you need something?"

"Just going back to my classroom with my classmate," he said, grinning. "Anything wrong with that?"

". . . Do you want me to make a list?"

"Come on, the playing hard-to-get thing got old over the weekend," he said, throwing the empty packet of mango juice into a trash can five feet away. "Let's go to an arcade after classes, yeah?"

"It's Monday," Minena deadpanned. Really though, how many times did she have to reject people for them to get the message today? She should've taken those sunglasses Shintarou offered her this morning; apparently, Libras had the worst luck today. And it wasn't even seven days from the first day of school—the last day when Libras had the worst luck. Had her ruling planet gone off-course or something?

They passed by 1-A's classroom, and when Minena noticed that there was no teacher inside, she quickly pulled away from under Haizaki's arm. A quick look inside confirmed the lack of adult supervision, so Minena opened the door and called out.

"Shin-chan! Sunglasses!"

Shintarou looked up from his notebook with an annoyed look on his face, but let a smirk decorate his features when he finally got what she meant. Akashi, who was nearby, had that amused gleam in his eyes again.

Reaching into the bag that hung from the hook on his desk, Shintarou pulled out a case for sunglasses and walked over to her.

"If you're going to take them eventually, just accept them in the first place," he said with an air of haughtiness around him.

"Yeah, yeah," the green-haired girl mumbled, opening the case and placing the sunglasses on her head.

She felt a weight on her shoulders as she brought her hands down, and Haizaki's face neared hers.

"Oi, oi. I wondered where you'd disappeared to. Huh?" Haizaki glanced up to Midorima, whose lips had slanted down into a frown. "Onii-san?"

"Wrong," Minena corrected. "This is Midorima Shintarou. He lives in the house next to mine. Shin-chan, this is my classmate, Haizaki-kun."

Haizaki pulled his arm away from her, straightening up and standing at his full height, which rivaled even Shintarou's.

"Yo, Shin-chan. Nice to meet'cha," Haizaki greeted in a drawl, a lazy grin on his face.

Midorima didn't say anything in reply, simply standing there with the light glinting off his glasses.

The tension between the two was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Minena faltered a bit in front of them.

This really was a bad day for Libras.

Luckily, Akashi came to save the day.

"Oh? So you're the Haizaki-kun from those rumors?"

The redhead's presence blew away the built-up tension like it was nothing. Turning to green-haired boy, he said, "Midorima-kun, why don't you walk Ryuugamine-san back to her class? I'd like to have a few words with Haizaki-kun."

Shintarou's lips pressed into a thin line, and without another word he grabbed Minena by the wrist and dragged her away. Her ears just barely picked up Haizaki's lazy drawl of, "Hah? What do you want?"

Shintarou dropped her wrist and slowed their pace when they were far enough.

Minena looked back, mumbling, "Why . . . do I suddenly feel something like pity towards Haizaki-kun?"

"Don't think too much about it," Shintarou replied stiffly. He stopped when they reached the front of her classroom.

" . . . Is he going to be okay?" she asked, referring to Haizaki.

Shintarou didn't reply to her question, instead sternly telling her to keep the sunglasses on hand at all times until the end of the day and that she could just give it back tomorrow, before sharply turning on his heel and walking back down the corridor.

"Lovers' quarrel?" Kohaku asked as the green-haired girl stepped inside the classroom.

Minena answered with a rise of her shoulders, "Something like that, I suppose . . . "

* * *

**Notes:**

Jizo is a bodhisattva and protector of children and travelers. Figures of him can be can be found on roadsides.

Most schools in Japan have Saturday classes, especially private schools (which Teikou is). They only last half a day though, and the students go home at around one. The afternoon is usually for club practice/meetings, and they take clubs very seriously in Japanese schools, as most of you guys may have seen in anime and manga already. (My source on this might be a little outdated though, so don't put too much faith in it.)

Science in Japan is frickin' complicated because they have different terms for nearly everything. And in _kanji_. If you're used to the English terms, like "protons," "combustion," and even the names of the elements, you're going to have to re-learn them all in Japanese. One of my Japanese teachers said a student of hers had gotten into a special science program at a university in Japan—he was an honor student here at my uni, but he nearly dropped out of the program because he found it difficult to adjust to using the new terms.

Time sales in Japan are an extreme equivalent of limited time sales in the western world. It depends, but there it's usually 10/30-minutes to 1-hour things, when certain items are put on sale. Maybe you've seen it in other anime or manga, but people make a big deal out of it and it's basically a war to get one of the on-sale items. Imagine something like the fight for Seirin's special Iberian pork sandwich. :D

* * *

**Question of the Chapter:** How do you like how I'm characterizing the canon characters (particularly the GoM)?

Well, as of this chapter, Minena has been officially introduced to all the GoM. Some of them have been more fleshed out than the others at this point, but what do you think so far? I have certain traits that I attach to the characters from the get-go, and they really affect how I characterize them. I'm not planning on completely fleshing out them _all_ out in this story though, since there are a couple of people I don't think Minena would be able to get close to. They might get some more screen time in the sequel, buuut . . . Anyway, for their first year, I'll be focusing more on the four who are in the basketball club (plus Haizaki, eventually). Kuroko and Kise make quite a few appearances, too, though, so no worries! :) They'll be more prominent when they reach their second year.

* * *

(_**Not really relevant:**__ "Nena-chin" because Aomine called dibs on "Mine-chin." :D_)  
(_**Irrelevant:**__ fffffff Akashi and Momoi are such shippers. /rolleyes I didn't mean to, I swear. They just ended up like that._)  
(_**Completely irrelevant:**__ Aomine, pft. Just. Pfft. /snorts_)


	7. The Games We Play

**A/N:** Hi, hi! Sorry this chap's late. I've been having trouble with the doc manager. :| I don't know if it's my laptop or the internet connection that's screwy, but in any case, I had to upload this chapter at uni. And I have a class in another building in like, 20 minutes, so not much updates on my end for now.

Well, things are finally starting to pick up. :) Pieces have finally be put in motion, haha. For now, the update schedule is back to monthly, so the next chap will be out at around the end of the July. As always, thanks for all the reviews, faves, and follows! Extra stuff (and spoilers) can be found at my lj, and quick links are in my profile. Have a look if you feel like it. Enjoy the chapter. :3

* * *

_chapter seven_  
**The Games We Play**

* * *

"Haizaki-kun . . . He's calmed down a bit, don't you think?"

Fujisaki fiddled with her ponytail, brushing the tips of her hair across her jaw line.

"Ever since he joined the basketball club, it seems."

Fujisaki glanced over to the green-haired girl tapping and swiping away on her phone. Ryuugamine was playing some game that involved weird virtual surgery with pizza cutters, lighters and lots of spilled blood on the screen. It had already been a month since the first day of classes, and she'd learned not to question Ryuugamine's game apps. Nearly a quarter of them were puzzles or English word games, and another chunk was composed of slash-and-hack and level-up games. There were also quite a few time management games, and a good number of cooking games, which Fujisaki personally preferred. Suoh, who was a member of the Classical Music Circle, was particularly fond of a piano simulator app and frequently borrowed Ryuugamine's phone for it.

Leaning forward on the other girl's table, Fujisaki asked, "So, the week-long schedule for the Teikou-sai is getting approved, right?"

"Most probably," Ryuugamine replied idly, biting her lip for a second as she hastily formed a zigzagging line with her finger. "The council has backing from the entire student body, and some big companies have assured their sponsorships if it goes through. The board is pretty much pushed up against a wall."

"Uwaah," Fujisaki grimaced, "I remember Rina-chan really talking our grandfather into that."

Ryuugamine hummed, a delighted smile lighting up her face as she safely finished her surgery. A big 'congratulations' blinked on screen, and after tapping a couple more times, she set to work on her next patient.

"That reminds me, she mentioned something about doing a cosplay café for the festival. With Kise-kun in their class and all," Fujisaki cradled her chin in her palms, thoughtfully staring out the window. "She's probably going to get help from Auntie for the food, too. We should start thinking about our plans, as well."

"Bring it up in the class meeting, then. We'll need something that can rake in a lot of cash so we have funds for the school trip," Ryuugamine said. "I've been doing some thinking, too. If possible, I want to do something that won't need too many people on the festival days themselves so we can go around and look at other booths. It's our first Teikou-sai after all."

"Do you have anything in mind?"

"Maybe a movie presentation or something," Ryuugamine shrugged.

"Movie, huh?" Fujisaki pondered. "It seems like quite a lot of effort to make, and getting permission for film viewings might be a bit of a hassle."

"But then most of us will be free on the festival days. It'll only take effort to prepare," Ryuugamine pointed out. "Though, on second thought, I'm not sure if it can get us a lot of funds. Maybe we should sell something with it . . . ?"

"Lots of people will probably be doing that though," Fujisaki mumbled. "We should go for something no one's done before."

The purple-haired girl wracked her brains. Haunted house booths and cafés were too clichéd. Clubs were probably going to host competitions and such, and there would be lots of people trying to sell different things.

"Ugyuu~" Fujisaki held her head in her hands, pressing her forehead to Ryuugamine's desk, smoke rising from her ears.

"Don't over-think it so much," Ryuugamine said, her tap-tap-tapping on the screen of her phone picking up speed. "We still have months to prepare for the school festival. I'm sure someone in our class can come up with something."

Fujisaki looked up as Ryuugamine's swiping and tapping turned frantic, her mouth pressed into a thin line and a scary look creeping into her eyes.

"Ah, shit. _Fucking argh_. Stupid game."

No matter how many times she witnessed it, Fujisaki couldn't get used to the usually calm and composed Ryuugamine turning into a sailor-mouthed delinquent who swore in a mix of English and Japanese whenever she lost in her games.

"Killed another patient?" Fujisaki asked, straightening up in her seat. Smiling teasingly, "You'll never become a doctor that way."

Ryuugamine just sighed heavily, locking her phone screen and slipping the device into her pocket as the door slid open and their teacher came in.

* * *

"Ah, Ryuugamine-san, thanks for your hard work."

The Student Council Office was a relatively small space—about half the size of one of Teikou's classrooms. Sunlight spilled from the windows, in front of which was lined a row of desks for the councilors. On the opposite wall was a large, pristine whiteboard, which was clear of any marks other than a column on the side closest to the door where the date was written with a black marker. The president's and vice-president's desks were pushed against the far wall, facing a line of shelves and file cabinets.

The steel-haired girl accepted the stack of papers she was handed, leaning against her chair as she thumbed through it.

"It's no problem," the green-haired girl replied, a placid smile on her face. "And Class 1-A's is there, too. The basketball club has a practice game at another school today, so Akashi-kun asked me to pass on the papers of his class."

Sorano gave a satisfied nod as she filed the pile away, returning her gaze to the girl in front of her. Ryuugamine's dark eyes were roving around the room. It wasn't quite the same look Benihara had when he looked around, as if he was examining every little detail the enclosed space had to offer, actively trying to find a speck of dirt or something misplaced so that he could go and fix it. No, Ryuugamine looked like she was carefully taking it all in, mind whirring to life with its gears in overdrive, ready to take note of anything that could be useful.

But then there was a slight pressing together of her smiling lips, and the attentive tension in her shoulders disappeared—like nothing had captured her interest at all, and all the information she had just gathered was deemed useless and thrown out the window.

Sorano didn't know whether to be offended or relieved.

"Well, Akashi-san seems quite dedicated to the basketball club," the president commented, leaning forward on her desk and threading her fingers together. "We don't really have any complaints about him as the first year representative, or as his class's representative, but his bias is obvious." She chuckled a bit to add some humor to her humorless statement.

When the green-haired girl did not reply, simply standing there with that placid—but now also bored—smile carved on her face, Sorano leant back on her seat, feeling the kinks tensing like coiled springs up her neck. Coughing a bit, she said, "We were thinking about recruiting him to try and run for the council next year, but it seems they're eyeing him for an eventual captaincy."

"Is that so?"

" . . . Yes, I heard about it from Nijimura-san," she said carefully. Ryuugamine was one of the few people she couldn't seem to make an impression on, let alone handle. The green-haired girl didn't respond to her as well as she'd like, and sometimes, she would get the feeling that Ryuugamine really, really disliked her, although she had no idea why. "It's a shame, but Akashi-san does seem to make his interests clear. Besides, the basketball club is highly respected here in Teikou."

Sorano bit her cheek as the awkward silence lengthened. True, Ryuugamine was one of the more capable people they'd been scouting, but, as expected, she couldn't quite bring herself to trust this girl with a leadership position. She was too people-oriented to take charge. Even if Ryuugamine socialized easily and had a natural charisma that brought others to her, for the most part, it seemed like she was just going along with the flow instead of actively taking the lead.

Among the freshmen, Fujisaki Rina from 1-D clearly had more drive to obtain a place within the council, showing nearly overwhelming enthusiasm in the work she did for them. In a way, Ryuugamine and Akashi were the same in this aspect—not exactly ecstatic or motivated about their posts, but they did their job so much better and so much more efficiently than anyone else that it was hard to not use them as the standard.

Benihara's intuition and eye for talent was unmatched, and from the beginning, he had eyed Akashi and Ryuugamine for the esteemed president and vice-president positions despite those two expressing no obvious interest in the Student Council. Sorano, however, valued honest intention and drive above all else. Even if Akashi and Ryuugamine revolutionized Teikou and brought the school to new heights, she'd still prefer people who were not as talented, but truly eager and willing rather than simply doing what was expected of them.

Sorano leaned forward on her desk. ". . . How about Ryuugamine-san?"

The placid smile curved into an amused one, and something stirred beneath the lucid tint of her lenses, which were—for today, at least—the color of a dull and rusty bronze. "What about me?"

"How would you feel about running for the student council next year?" Sorano clarified with a dry throat. Though she would never say it out loud, the main reason she didn't want to put Ryuugamine into a position of leadership was because of the occasional manic glint in her eyes—that cold, chilling madness that made Sorano feel like she was on fire, and that Ryuugamine was watching, waiting for her to crumble to ashes. Maybe it was just her; maybe this was just her being paranoid. Ryuugamine didn't really _actively_ voice out or show any sort of contempt for her. But what frightened Sorano the most was the other maybe—the maybe it _wasn't_ just her.

"We like to eye prospective candidates early so we have a chance to train them. Invite them to leadership trainings, event management conferences and such. It's a good experience either way. You're sure to find use for it sometime in the future."

Even Benihara wouldn't want her to take over his position if he saw that look in her eyes. In fact, he'd probably be hightailing it to the mountains to seek refuge with wild animals.

Ryuugamine shrugged nonchalantly, crossing one ankle over the other as she unwaveringly stood there with her hands in the front pockets of the cream-colored cardigan she wore over her blue blouse, which had the top button unfastened. She had the usual ribbon tied loosely around her collar, and Sorano could see a hint of a golden chain around her neck. Her cardigan was long, covering the large, seafoam green accessory with googly-eyes Ryuugamine was known for having attached to her phone.

Despite the scruffy and overly loose state of her clothing, Ryuugamine's skirt was longer than the minimum regulation length. She also wore stockings instead of socks, and her hair was always styled in a neat bun that was pretty much her signature look. These relayed a more conservative air, and that was probably why her general image managed to scrape by the usual strictness of the teachers on uniform regulations. Phones were tolerated in Teikou as long as they weren't used during class periods, and jewelry was allowed as long as it was displayed inconspicuously and wasn't too extravagant. They probably let her habit of wearing colored contact lenses slip because Ryuugamine was, all in all, a student of very good standing.

"I don't really mind," the green-haired girl replied in her usual airy and ambiguous way. This flighty, careless manner of hers was what really put Sorano on edge. She was never sure of anything when it came to this girl. No one had ever seen Ryuugamine get angry or nervous; she was always calm and smiling, a picture of absolute levelheadedness. She wasn't really the best at anything, but she was almost unbelievably good at a lot of things—the perfect poster girl for the phrase, "_jack of all trades, but master of none_." It was probably because of that that she always managed to keep up her façade of a calm composure—her skill level was high enough that it took quite a bit to faze her in anything.

Sorano silently took a deep breath. She was not the same as Ryuugamine. Her talents lay in one thing, and she considered herself lucky that she figured out where early. She was able to recognize her skills and work on improving them immediately. She had been patient and diligent, and that was why she managed to become the only person to be president of the Teikou's Student Council two years in a row—a feat that not even Ryuugamine would never be able to achieve. She was proud of what she had attained.

But still . . . the immature side of her couldn't help but think that maybe—_maybe_ it would be better to be like the green-haired girl instead. Sure, she had reached the top—a place that Ryuugamine might not even be able to reach—but she had sacrificed a lot. People with multiple talents were considered geniuses and celebrated without question, but people whose potentials lay in one thing still had to work their asses off to gain even the tiniest bit of recognition. To compete in a single field meant that one had to be the uncontested number one, but to compete in multiples fields required only a relatively high standing in each.

People like Ryuugamine Hatsuna had it so much easier. Maybe she won't be able to obtain the same kind of pride and happiness Sorano did, but she managed to keep more with less sacrifices. A longer-lasting happiness with less loss. The ability to live without the fear of being toppled and replaced. To be able to hide behind a mask of humility when surpassed.

Ryuugamine could make all the mistakes she wants and no one would judge her for it because it was fine for her to not be perfect.

Sorano did not have the luxury.

"It sounds like a good opportunity," Ryuugamine said, tilting her head to gaze out the window. She paused for a split second before returning her gaze to Sorano, "I'm willing to attend the trainings, and I'll think about running next year. I'm honored that you've considered me, President."

I didn't, Sorano thought as she let a wistful smile form on her face. In fact, if the steel-haired girl had her way, Ryuugamine wouldn't even be a class representative.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be excusing myself then," Ryuugamine said, nodding her head before walking out the room.

As soon as the door shut close, Sorano took in a large breath, leaning her head against the back of her chair, and sighed heavily.

This was going be a long year.

* * *

"Just buy one."

Midorima ground his teeth as he tossed the orange sphere into a basket about a meter and a half away in front of him. The game console beeped and flashed with red lights as another point was added to his score. He grabbed another basketball from the tray in front of him, shooting without even aiming, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. The ball smoothly went in without even touching the rim.

He's a machine, Minena thought idly as she grabbed a ball from the tray, trying to spin it on her finger like Aomine did, but failing miserably.

"This way is cheaper and more efficient."

"It's a Geroppu-whatchamacallit lunchbox. How expensive can it be?"

Although what she was really dying to ask was, if he was really going to walk around carrying one for an entire day, and could she take a picture of it?

"It's '_Ke_ro Kero Keroppi,'" he corrected stiffly. "And it's an old character, so department stores don't really sell its merchandise anymore. We're lucky that they're even offering it as a prize here."

The green-haired girl leant against the side of the game console, dribbling the basketball on the tiled floor beside her as she glanced around the dingy arcade. Most of the games were old school, and the customers were either men in their late thirties or kids below ten. There were two _Dance Dance Revolution_ machines in one corner, a line of consoles of the earlier versions of _Street Fighter_ in the middle, and some crane machines filled with little plush toys by the entrance. There were some other games whose titles she didn't recognize, as well as a photo booth beside the prizes counter.

Sighing, she stepped up beside the green-haired boy, tossing the basketball she had in her hands as he picked another one up from the tray. It hit the backboard, rolling around the rim of the basket a bit before teetering dangerously towards the outside. Just as it was about to fall out, Midorima threw another ball, pushing in the one she shot before neatly falling in after.

"Show off," she deadpanned as he went to pick up another basketball with barely a bat of his eyelashes.

Soon enough, the machine started beeping loudly as the last ten seconds of the game ticked down. Midorima remained unfazed, simply picking up a bit of speed to get in as many points as he could before the time ran out. He had already beaten the previous high score around thirty seconds ago, not to mention he still had a couple of extra tokens to spare. All that was left was to see if the points he gathered equated to enough tickets to exchange for his goal of the Kero Kero Keroppi lunchbox.

The countdown reached zero, and the game console blinked and beeped, a congratulatory message scrolling through the screen. Midorima crouched down, carefully arranging tickets the machine churned out into a neat pile so they wouldn't get tangled.

"350 tickets, right?" he asked.

"Yep," the green-haired girl confirmed as they headed towards the machine that counted tickets. After feeding it into the slot, the screen blinked with a number '300,' and churned out receipt of sorts, indicating the number of tickets he had gained.

Sighing, Midorima mumbled, "One more game, huh?"

"Ah, can I have the last token? I want to try out that old _Street Fighter_ game."

Midorima fished out the last two tokens from his pocket and passed one to Minena. "Don't take too long."

"Yes, mom~" she rang as she skipped away, leaving a frowning Midorima in her wake.

A little over five minutes later, Midorima had won his Kero Kero Keroppi lunchbox, and a little over ten minutes after that, he had been reduced to dragging away his pain in the neck of a supposed-to-be-childhood friend by the collar to pull her away from a game which she had already spent nearly twenty tokens (which he most certainly had _not_ supplied her with) on, after being continuously and thoroughly beaten on round 1.

"The controls are just different and the machine's just old! It's not responding like I want to! I'll get used to it soon!" she protested, squirming under his iron grip. "Come on, Shin-chan, just one more game—"

* * *

**Question of the Chapter:** What do you think about my OCs? Who is your favorite so far (aside from Minena, lol)?

Haha, well. Since this is set during the Teikou years, there's definitely gonna be a lot of original characters added. I need people outside the basketball club after all. :P I have a master list with short character descriptions/profiles on my lj, so check it out if you want. :) Link is in my profile, as always.

* * *

And, oh yeah. Regarding the final pairings: it has been addressed on a post in my lj. Link is in my profile. Heavy spoiler warnings. Read at your own risk. :3


End file.
